LIVELY  BOYS!    LIVELY  BOYS /" 


IKE  PARTINGTON; 


OR, 


THE  ADVENTURES   OF  A  HUMAN  BOY 
AND    HIS    FRIENDS^.          '-      ' 


B.    P.    SHILLABER, 

AUTHOR   OF    "  PARTINGTONIAN    PATCHWORK,"    "LINES    IN 
PLEASANT   PLACES,"   ETC. 


"  Oh !  when  I  was  a  tiny  boy, 
My  days  and  nights  were  full  of  joy, 

My  mates  were  blithe  and  kind: 
No  wonder  that  I  sometimes  sigh, 
And  dash  the  tear-drop  from  my  eye, 

To  cast  a  look  behind."  —  HOOD. 


BOSTON: 
LEE   AND   SHEPARD,  PUBLISHERS. 

NEW  YORK: 

CHARLES   T.  DILLINGHAM. 
1879. 


COPYRIGHT,  1878, 

ILLA 

reserved 


Electrotype*  and  Printed 

By  Rand,  Avery,  &*  Company, 

7/7  Franklin  Street, 

Boston. 


PREFACE. 


"  Dining  once  with  a  friend,  whose  family  consisted  of  only  himself  and 
three  boys,  conversation  with  my  host  was  interrupted  by  a  violent  out- 
break among  the  latter ;  and,  as  we  turned,  a  plate  of  squash  was  hurled 
by  one  at  his  opposite  neighbor,  which  took  a  perfect  cast  of  his  counte- 
nance. My  host,  turning  to  me,  simply  said,  '  Lively  boys,  lively  boys, 
doctor ! '  and  resumed  the  remark  he  had  been  making."  —  DR.  TREAT'S 
Diary  and  Table-Talk. 

IN  judging  the  boy,  liveliness  should  not  be  mistaken 
for  wickedness,  if  anybody  can  stop  long  enough  to 
discriminate ;  but  a  plate  of  flying  squash,  for  the  mo- 
ment, might  well  awake  a  doubt,  except  in  the  mind 
of  the  one  who  understood  the  parties.  The  stories 
herein  told  must  be  judged  in  this  way.  They  illus- 
trate the  general  conduct  of  the  "  Human  Boy, "  as 
Mr.  Chadband  calls  him ;  and  the  term  "  Lively  Boys  " 
will  better  distinguish  conduct  that  may  be  mischievous 
without  being  malicious.  Ike,  as  the  representative  Boy, 
has  long  demonstrated  this  idea.  The  Boy  must  not 
be  judged  by  the  standard  of  Childhood  or  Manhood. 
He  has  a  sphere  of  his  own;  and  all  of  his  mischief, 

M115404 


4  PREFACE. 

frolic,  and  general  deucedness  belongs  to  his  own  condi- 
tion. The  Boy*  has  but  little  plan,  purpose,  or  intention, 
in  what  he  does,  beyond  having  a  good  time.  Boys  that 
think,  and  have  no  interest  in  the  doings  of  boyhood, 
may  be  delightful  aids  to  a  quiet  home;  but  the  life, 
spirit,  energy,  and  health  of  the  active  Boy,  come  with 
his  activity.  As  for  boyish  fun,  it  is  not  so  much  that  as 
it  is  experiment ;  and  the  boyish  reader  of  these  pages 
will  see  how  it  is  for  himself.  He  will  see  his  own 
motives,  impulses,  and  conduct,  in  the  incidents  nar- 
rated ;  and  those  of  older  growth,  who  once  were  boys, 
will  read  in  them  their  own  early  experiences.  Boys 
will  be  boys. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Moving  Incidents.  —  Settled  at  "  The  Corner."  —  The  Creek  and 

Surroundings.  —  Seasonable  Prospects.  —  Ready  for  Action       .        7 

CHAPTER  II. 

Ike  goes  to  School.  —  Plot  and  Counterplot.  —  Teacher  twice  sold. 

—  The  Bewitched  Chair.  —  "  Jump  him,  Jackson  1  "  —  One  for 

the  Teacher 19 

CHAPTER   III. 
The  Creek  Poets.  —  Ballad  of  Bull  Pad-dock.  —  Round  the  Old 

Cellar.  —  Ike  drops  in  at  a  Frogs'  Concert          ....       31 

CHAPTER   IV. 

The  Oven  by  the  Shore.  —  The  Sea- Monster.  —  Captain  Bob  sent 

for.  —  The  great  Show.  —  The  Captain  treats  on  Grape-Culture.      44 

CHAPTER  V. 

Voyages  on  the  Creek.  —  "  The  Jolly  Robin."  —  The  Strange  Sail. 

—  Ike    shipwrecked.  —  Captain    Bob  to    the   Rescue.  —  Sea- 
Yarn.  —  Mrs.  Partington  admonishes 58 

CHAPTER   VI. 

Neighbor  Grum's  Surprise-Party.  —  Boys  on  the  Grass.  —  Grum  a 

Prisoner.  —  An  Important  Question 68 

CHAPTER  VII. 
Dr.  Spooner  at  Clam  Corner.  —  Sunday  Morning.  —  Ike  surprised. 

—  A  Bald  Head  deceptive.  —  Visit  abruptly  concluded       .        .       79 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Ike  and  Sim  at  the   Farm. —  The  drowned  Woodchuck.  —  The 

Hornet's  Nest.  —  Uncle  Tracy  in  Trouble 89 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  IX.  PAGE 

Going  Fishing.  —  Commodore  Huntress  —  The  Commodore  on 
Deep-water  Fishing.  —  "  Gaft  him,  William."  —  Ike  caught  by 
a  Fish-hook.  —  Work  of  High  Art.  —  Patriotic  Rooster.  —  Ike 
at  the  Churn-dasher.  —  Uncle  Tracy  Son-struck  .  .  .  100 

CHAPTER  X. 

Homeward  bound.  —  Drifting  down  the  River.  —  The  Ancient  Fish- 
erman. —  Bites.  —  Pulling  in  the  Bluefish.  —  An  intercepted 
Letter.  —  Captain  Bob  on  Truth.  —  His  Sealing-voyage  .  .114 

CHAPTER   XL 

The  Wood-rangers.  —  The  old  Gun  and  the  Cats.  —  Ground  and 

Lofty  tumbling.  —  Ike  crippled  by  a  Fall         ....       129 

CHAPTER  XII. 

Amusing  the  Invalid.  —  Trying  a  Cat's  Temper.  —  The  old  Ante- 
diluvian. —  Queer  Stories.  —  The  Fight  at  Sheldon's.  —  Mak- 
ing up  I3$T 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

Race  with  the  Teacher.  —  Big  on  Ice.  —  Coasting  on  Cruft's  Hill.  — 
The  "  Red  Fawn  "  and  "  King  of  the  Coast."  —  Mounting  the 
Drift.  —  Ike  triumphant.  —  Grum  off  his  Legs.  —  Boys  will  be 
Boys 153 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

The  drowned  Boy.  —  Captain  Bob's  Effort.  —  The  Faith  that  kills 
Snakes.  —  North  End  and  South  End.  —  The  Snow-fort.  — 
Battle  of  New  Orleans  —  Reversing  History  .  .  .  .166 

CHAPTER  XV. 

Winter  Evenings.  —  Neighborly  Gatherings.  —  A  Night  at  Mrs. 
I'artington's.  —  Story  by  the  Teacher.  —  Captain  Bob  regard- 
ing Mermaids 184 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

Ice-navigation  on  the  Creek.  —  Ike  strikes  a  Rock.  — Cries  for  Help. 
—  drum  under  a  New  Aspect.  —  A  Door  of  Escape.  —  The 
New  Planet. —  An  exploding  Star. —  Ike's  Moral  Culture.— 
Performance  on  the  Organ.  —  Couldn't  play  it  on  him.  —  Sliver- 
ing. —  The  Close  209 


IKE   PARTINGTON. 


CHAPTER   I. 

MOVING  INCIDENTS. SETTLED  AT  "THE   CORNER." 

THE    CREEK    AND    SURROUNDINGS. SEASONA- 
BLE  PROSPECTS. READY   FOR   ACTION. 

IT  was  with  a  feeling  of  real  pleasure  that  Mrs. 
Partington  grasped  Dr.  Spooner's  hand,  and 
bade  him  welcome ;  although  she  confessed  that 
she  was  "  a  little  decomposed "  at  being  caught 
just  as  she  was,  as  she  was  not  dressed  for  com- 
pany, and  asked  him  to  excuse  her. 

"  Make  no  apology  to  an  old  friend,  I  beg,"  said 
he. 

"  Thank  you,  doctor :  please  sit  down,"  placing 
a  chair  for  him. 

He  did  so,  but  immediately  rose  again  as  he 
found  that  he  had  seated  himself,  by  the  dim 
light,  upon  something  warm ;  and  a  shallow  pan  of 


IKE    PARTINGTON. 


;  Vhich  Ike  had  placed  there  a  few 
minutes  before  while  he  went  out  to  set  a  slip- 
noose  in  the  fence  for  a  cat,  came  up  with  him. 
Mrs.  Partington  was  much  mortified ;  but  the  doc- 
tor re-assured  her  as  he  sat  down  safely  in  another 
chair,  though  a  little  sticky. 

"  I  wished  to  see  you,"  she  said,  "  to  ask  your 
advice  about  Isaac.  He  isn't  well,  I  know, 
because  he  does  not  act  well ;  and  what  would 
feed  him  would  feed  a  robin,  he  eats  so  little.  I 
think  of  leaving  here  for  a  place  where  the  air  is 
more  embracing,  and  where  he  can  stave  round 
and  recooperate." 

"Ah!"  replied  he.  "That  is  indeed  an  im- 
portant step." 

"  I  wished  to  ask  your  opinion  whether  living 
contagious  to  a  river  would  be  dilatory  to  him,  for 
I  think  he  has  a  tenderness  to  bronchical  diffi- 
culty." 

"  I  don't  think  it  would  be  bad  for  him,"  replied 
the  doctor,  "unless  he  fell  into  the  river,  and 
couldn't  swim." 

"  I'm  shore  I'm  glad  to  hear  you  say  so,"  said 
the  dame,  her  anxiety  evidently  much  relieved. 

"But   what   about   his   schooling?     Are  there 


IKE    PARTINGTON.  9 

good  schools  where  you  intend  to  go  ? "  asked  the 
doctor. 

"  Yes  :  there  are  degraded  schools,  just  as  they 
are  here,  and  education  is  dispensed  with  pretty 
much  the  same." 

"Where  is  the  location,  madam  ?" 

"  Oh !  it  is  quite  different  from  that,  I  assure 
you,  and  not  low  at  all.  The  situation  is  lovely. 
The  house  is  by  the  side  of  a  creek  that  is  not 
very  roominous,  but  it  is  great  for  eelgrass." 

"  I  mean,  where  is  it  ?  "  and  the  doctor  smiled  at 
her  misapprehension. 

"  It  is  on  the  Hardup  Railroad ;  and  I  shall  buy 
two  shares  of  the  stock  if  it  will  not  cost  more 
than  five  dollars  for  both,  so  that  Isaac  and  I  can 
come  up  to  the  stockholders'  meetings." 

"  Your  plan,  my  dear  madam,  is  a  good  one.  I 
certainly  think  the  change  will  benefit  the  lad ; 
and  though  we  shall  miss  him  undoubtedly,  the 
knowledge  that  he  is  bettered  by  going  will  sus- 
tain those  he  leaves  behind.  In  fact,  I  think  that 
all  the  neighbors,  seeing  the  advantage  it  will  be 
to  him,  will  surrender  every  personal  considera- 
tion, and,  in  the  kindness  of  their  hearts,  be  glad 
that  he  has  gone." 


1O  IKE   PARTINGTON. 

"  I  am  truly  delighted  to  know  this.  Our  new 
home  is  not  so  exorbitant  as  some ;  but,  if  you  can 
come  to  see  us  in  your  summer  vexation,  you  will 
find  room  to  be  entertained." 

"  I  shall  certainly  be  most  happy." 

Ike  had  come  in,  and  was  looking  for  his  candy. 
Dr.  Spooner  arose  to  take  his  leave;  but  the 
molasses  troubled  him,  and  he  felt,  as  he  said 
"  Good-by,"  like  a  big  bee  which  had  been  revel- 
ling in  stolen  sweets,  and  was  taking  some  away 
with  him. 

When  the  time  arrived  for  the  promulgation  of 
the  fact  that  she  was  going,  Mrs.  Partington  was 
surprised  and  much  gratified  to  find  so  deep  an 
interest  felt  in  her  boy.  His  health,  the  neighbors 
all  said,  should  not  be  neglected  on  any  account ; 
and,  as  Dr.  Spooner  had  intimated,  they  were  not 
disposed  to  present  a  single  obstacle.  They 
hoped  he  would  be  better  by  going ;  and  certainly 
there  seemed  much  room  for  improvement. 

Ike  was  unfortunate  in  being  too  popular.  He 
was  an  active,  bright-eyed,  curly-headed,  roguish 
little  fellow,  —  with  no  doubt  about  the  latter 
quality,  —  a  leader  in  all  boyish  sports,  known  to 
everybody  as  a  lively  lad  ;  but,  though  engaged  in 


IKE    PARTINGTON.  II 

many  an  act  called  "mischievous"  by  those  who 
had  forgotten  that  they  were  once  boys  them- 
selves, there  was  nothing  malicious  in  his  conduct. 
Of  course  he  got  a  bad  reputation  ;  and,  when  any- 
thing was  done  for  which  an  author  was  wanted, 
it  had  become  a  sort  of  fashion  with  the  neigh- 
bors to  say  that  it  was  "one  of  Ike's  tricks." 
Many  a  time  was  this  said  as  an  excuse  for  their 
own  boys,  in  whom  they  could  see  no  wrong 
except  what  they  had  caught,  as  it  were  like 
the  measles ;  and  so  Ike  had  to  bear  all  the  ills 
that  were  his  own,  and  theirs  too.  But  he  didn't 
care.  Who  ever  knew  a  boy  that  was  morbidly 
sensitive,  or  cared  a  continental  copper  what  peo- 
ple said  about  him  ?  He  lives  in  a  world  of  his 
own,  —  a  sort  of  Ishmael  on  a  small  scale.  And 
this  name  applies  very  well ;  for  Ishmael  means 
"  God  who  hears,"  and  He  cares  for  the  human  boy, 
whatever  any  may  say,  and  all  the  boy's  eccen- 
tricities harden  in  good  time  into  manly  character. 
In  due  time  Mrs.  Partington  packed  up  her 
furniture  and  other  portable  goods,  and  left  for 
her  new  home.  The  good  dame  went  with  the 
last  load,  sitting  with  the  driver  on  the  front  seat ; 
while  Ike,  astride  of  a  trunk  on  the  hind  part, 


12 


IKE    PARTINGTON. 


threw  chunks  of  coal  from  a  near  basket  at  a  dog 
which  came  smelling  round  the  wagon  as  if  from 
a  wish  to  know  what  it  all  meant.  Mrs.  Partington 
waved  her  umbrella  in  farewells,  which  were  cor- 
dially returned, 
until  an  interven- 
ing corner 


the  scene  from  her  view, 
perhaps  forever. 

The  spot  which  she  had 
_  chosen  for  her  new  abode 
was  named  Clam  Corner  by  general  usage,  be- 
cause of  the  many  clams  to  be  found  there  on 
the  shore.  "The  Creek,"  however,  was  the  polite 
name  it  bore.  Her  house  was  on  the  bank  of  the 
creek,  which  was  a  beautiful  stream  —  what  there 


IKE    PARTINGTON.  13 

was  of  it  —  flowing  in  from  Rapid  River.  The 
river  also  bore  an  Indian  name,  which  signified 
"  Fish  Water ; "  and  although  its  name  may  not 
be  found  on  any  map,  it  was  regarded  by  those 
who  lived  near  it  as  the  grandest  river  in  the 
world. 

The  "  Corner "  was  part  of  Rivertown,  a 
populous  city :  and  there  was  quite  a  settlement 
along  the  bank  of  the  creek ;  and,  of  the  houses 
composing  this,  Mrs.  Partington's  was  one  of 
the  neatest.  An  orchard,  consisting  of  one  scat- 
tering tree,  sloped  back  from  the  cottage  to  the 
water's  edge ;  and  the  view  from  the  back  win- 
dows extended  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  in- 
cluding the  little  village  of  Grace  on  the  oppo- 
site bank,  an  old  graveyard  on  the  right,  and  on 
the  left  the  creek,  with  deserted  brick-works  in 
the  distance.  The  convenience  of  water  made 
it  a  fine  place  for  a  boat  in  summer ;  and  one 
could  see  that  in  winter  there  must  be  a  grand 
chance  to  skate  there,  if  the  water  froze  over, 
which  seemed  very  probable.  There  was  consid- 
erable of  a  hill  at  no  great  distance,  promising 
rare  coasting ;  and  nearer,  on  a  little  rise  of  the 
land,  an  old  cellar,  which  some  one  had  dug  out 


14  IKE    PARTINGTON. 


many  years  before,  and,  failing  to  build  over  it, 
had  left  it  for  the  accommodation  of  frogs,  in 
summer,  to  hold  free  concerts  in. 

The  reputation  of  Mrs.  Partington  and  Ike  had 
reached  the  "  Corner  "  before  they  did ;  and  their 
coming  caused  a  stir  that  it  had  not  experienced 
for  a  long  time.  The  boys  regarded  Ike  as  an 
important  addition  to  their  numbers ;  and  they 
flocked  round,  thick  as  bees,  to  welcome  him. 
They  were  all  "hail  fellow,  well  met,"  in  ten 
minutes.  Ike's  reputation  had  also  reached  the 
ears  of  Mr.  Grum,  a  rough  and  disagreeable 
person  who  lived  in  the  house  next  to  the 
cottage  of  Mrs.  Partington ;  and  he  was  preju- 
diced against  him  from  the  start.  He  was  living 
alone,  with  his  niece  for  a  housekeeper,  his  wife 
being  dead,  and  his  children  grown  up  and  moved 
away ;  and  he  saw  trouble  ahead  from  this  new- 
comer. He  was  out  in  his  front  yard  —  a  fine 
green  lawn  —  the  next  morning  after  the  new 
arrival,  and  watched  Ike,  not  very  pleasantly,  as 
he  came  along  whistling,  with  a  switch  cutting 
off  the  heads  of  the  weeds  along  the  path. 

"  Hallo  !  "  cried  he  gruffly,  or  Grumly,  "  what's 
your  name  ? " 


IKE    PARTINGTON.  15 

"Ike  Partington,  sir,"  replied  the  boy,  as  he 
spoke  stripping  the  leaves  from  a  green  twig  that 
struggled  through  Grum's  fence. 

"  Well,  let  that  bush  alone,  and  see  that  you 
behave  yourself." 

"I'll  try,  sir." 

"  You'd  better.  Don't  let  us  have  any  of  your 
city  pranks  here.  If  I  catch  you  in  any  mischief 
about  my  place,  I'll  take  your  hide  off.  Do  you 
hear?" 

"  Yes,  sir,"  kicking  at  a  mullein-root. 

"Be  sure  you  keep  away  from  this  grass.  If 
you  step  your  foot  on  it,  I'll  take  a  whip  to  you. 
Do  you  hear  ? " 

"Yes,  I  ain't  deaf."  And  then  he  for  the  first 
time  looked  at  the  grass,  and  thought,  that,  of  all 
things  in  the  world,  he  just  then  would  like  to 
play  circus  on  that  grass,  and  stood  looking  at  it 
so  earnestly  that  Grum  told  him  to  go  home ;  and 
he  went,  giving  a  defiant  look  at  the  old  man,  who 
thought  he  saw  mischief  in  that  boy.  Ike  didn't 
care  for  his  threats ;  and  all  day  long  he  thought 
of  that  little  grass-plat,  not  two  rods  square,  when 
there  were  acres  of  as  good  grass  all  around  that 
he  didn't  think  of  at  all.  He  saw  in  his  sleep, 


1 6  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

that  night,  a  circus  of  fifty  boys  trampling  down 
Grum's  grass,  while  the  old  man  stood  at  an 
upper  window,  threatening  them  with  a  double- 
barrelled  shot-gun,  which  wouldn't  go  off;  and  he 
awakened  himself  with  laughing. 

There  was  another  neighbor,  of  quite  a  differ- 
ent sort,  with  whom  Ike  soon  got  acquainted. 
This  was  "Captain  Bob,"  as  everybody  called 
him ;  and  a  queer  old  fellow  he  was  too.  He 
was  very  rough-looking  in  his  dress,  —  wore  a 
woollen  jacket,  thick  pants,  with  wide  legs, 
inside  of  his  boots,  and  a  Scotch  cap  on  his 
head ;  but  he  had  a  cheery  face  and  a  good 
word  at  all  times,  and  won  Ike's  heart  in  spite 
of  his  uncouth  looks.  He  had  been  a  sailor  in 
his  young  days,  and  had  lots  of  wonderful  stories 
to  tell  about  the  sea.  To  sustain  his  salt-water 
habit,  he  kept  several  boats  on  the  creek,  which 
he  let  to  the  boys,  with  all  of  whom  he  was  an 
immense  favorite.  His  wife  used  to  say,  as  she 
saw  them  round  him,  that  he  was  the  greatest  boy 
of  them  all. 

"  How  fare'ee,  lad  ? "  he  would  cry,  as  he  saw 
Ike  go  by;  and  Ike  would  say,  "All  right, 
Cap'n,"  showing  that  they  were  the  best  of 


IKE    PARTINGTON.  I/ 

friends.  The  captain  told  his  wife  that  he  liked 
that  little  chap,  for  he  had  the  real  ginger  in  him ; 
and  Ike  believed  that  since  the  days  of  Noah 
there  had  been  no  such  navigator  as  Captain  Bob. 

Ike  soon  grew  familiar  with  the  people  and  the 
locality;  but  one  object  of  the  latter,  more  than 
any  other,  attracted  his  attention.  The  street 
through  the  Corner  ended  on  a  cross  street,  one 
side  of  which  was  formed  by  a  high  wall ;  and 
beyond  this  the  boys  could  not  go.  This  wall 
enclosed  on  three  sides  an  old  mansion  and 
grounds,  the  fourth  bordering  on  the  creek.  A 
crevice  had  been  cut  through  the  broad  wooden 
gate  which  opened  into  the  grounds ;  and  beyond 
it  could  be  had  limited  views  of  luscious  fruit 
which  hung  near  the  earth,  and  on  these  the  eyes 
of  the  boys  gloated  every  day.  There  was,  how- 
ever, the  shadow  of  a  black  dog  named  Jack, 
whose  bark  was  not  very  pleasant  to  hear ;  and  it 
restrained  longing  to  their  side  of  the  wall,  keep- 
ing them  honest.  Ike  longed  with  the  rest ;  but 
it  was  ineffectual,  for  the  present  at  least. 

Before  a  ship  goes  into  a  battle  the  decks  are 
always  cleared ;  and  so  this  chapter  has  been 
simply  preparation  for  the  action  of  Ike  and  his 


1 8  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

friends  during  the  year  to  which  time  it  is  limited. 
The  scene  all  laid  out,  and  the  main  characters 
introduced,  there  is  nothing  to  prevent  smooth 
sailing ;  and  the  next  chapter  will  show  how  Ike 
got  along  at  school. 


IKE    PARTINGTON.  IQ 


CHAPTER   II. 

IKE  GOES    TO    SCHOOL. PLOT    AND    COUNTERPLOT^ 

TEACHER     TWICE      SOLD.  THE      BEWITCHED 

CHAIR.  "JUMP      HIM,     JACKSON  !  " ONE     FOR 

THE    TEACHER. 

MRS.  PARTINGTON  was  desirous  of  put- 
ting Ike  into  the  "degraded"  school,  as 
she  expressed  it,  and  consulted  her  neighbor  Mr. 
Grum  about  it,  because  she  saw  that  he  had  a 
bald  head,  and  deemed  that  it  was  full  of  wisdom. 
It  reminded  her,  as  she  looked  at  it,  of  an  un- 
abridged dictionary. 

"Is  there  a  degraded  school  near  here?"  she 
asked. 

"  They  all  are,  I  should  think,  from  the  kind  of 
boys  they  turn  out,"  said  he.  "  I  have  to  keep  an 
eye  on  my  grass  when  they  are  round." 

"  Is  the  teacher  sufficient  ? " 

"  Quite  so  :  I  don't  see  how  he  could  be  any 
more." 


2O  IKE    PARTINGTON. 


"  Does  he  practise  moral  training  in  his  school  ?  " 
"I  guess  so :  the  boys  are  great  trainers." 
"  I  don't  want  my  boy  to  train  maliciously,  as 
they  do  in  some  schools,  with  guns,  and  real  per- 
secution caps  on  'em." 

"  Very  proper,  ma'am ;  but  he  must  be  careful 
and  not  train  on  my  grass." 

So,  after  going  through  the  usual  forms,  Ike 
was  duly  enrolled  a  scholar  in  "  graded  school  No. 
4,"  Rivertown.  He  went  to  school  on  Monday, 
with  Mrs.  Partington's  smiles  and  an  armful  of 
books ;  she  having  charged  him  to  bemean  himself 
exceptionably,  and  try  for  the  medal,  and  he  would 
be  sure  to  win  it,  as  he  certainly  was  a  very  med- 
alsome  boy.  He  soon  got  the  "hang  of  the 
schoolhouse,"  and  awakened  such  an  interest  in 
the  teacher,  the  very  first  day,  that  he  watched 
him  almost  all  the  time.  The  teacher  saw,  un- 
doubtedly, that  he  was  a  boy  of  remarkable  merit. 
Before  he  had  been  there  a  week,  by  close  applica- 
tion he  had  cut  a  hole  through  his  desk,  spilled  his 
ink  on  the  floor,  and  took  a  place  so  far  down  in 
his  class  that  it  was  very  fortunate  for  him  the 
class  was  no  longer.  To  enable  him  to  apply 
himself  more  diligently  to  his  studies,  he  was  made 


IKE    PARTINGTON.  21 

to  stand  on  various  pedestals,  like  a  Hindoo  idol ; 
but  this  only  made  the  boys  laugh,  though  he 
made  no  sign  to  cause  it,  so  far  as  the  teacher 
could  see,  and  he  proved  a  capital  example  of  how 
not  to  do  it. 

The  teacher  was  a  sharp  and  severe  man,  who 
had  few  pleasant  words  to  waste  on  scholars,  and 
gave  them  a  frequent  taste  of  "  correction,"  as  he 
termed  it ;  but  they  took  a  different  view  of  it,  and 
called  it  "licking,"  and  were  not  at  all  grateful  for 
the  favor  intended.  They  had  very  little  respect 
for  the  teacher,  although  they  were  afraid  of  him  ; 
and  his  school,  for  order,  had  the  best  reputation 
of  any  school  in  town.  One  blow  of  his  rattan  on 
the  desk  would  produce  the  most  perfect  silence ; 
and  every  one  would  take  to  studying,  with  one  eye 
on  the  rattan,  as  if  his  life  depended  on  the  effort. 

He  seemed  to  look  upon  all  the  scholars  as  con- 
spirators against  his  peace  and  dignity ;  and  Ike, 
from  the  first  moment  of  his  entering  the  school, 
was  an  object  of  especial  distrust.  A  boy  can 
detect  a  feeling  of  this  kind  very  quickly,  and  it 
does  not  cause  him  to  feel  very  agreeably  towards 
the  one  who  suspects  him.  Do  what  he  would, 
the  teacher's  eye  was  on  him ;  and  there  was  really 


22  IKE    PARTINGTON. 


little  encouragement  to  do  well ;  and  Ike  thought 
that  if  an  opportunity  should  arise  when  he  could 
play  a  trick  upon  the  teacher,  he  would  do  it.  The 
occasion  was  not  long  in  offering  itself. 

It  was  a  serious  offence  to  bring  any  book  into 
the  school  except  those  they  studied,  and  several 
boys  had  been  " corrected"  for  presuming  to  do 
so.  One  day  the  teacher,  on  looking  as  usual 
towards  Ike,  who  sat  apparently  very  busy  with 
his  task,  saw,  or  thought  he  saw,  the  end  of  another 
book  projecting  beyond  the  one  that  he  should  be 
studying.  He  was  eager  to  detect  him  in  the  very 
act,  and  so  would  not  speak  to  him,  nor  let  him 
know  that  he  suspected  him ;  but  watching  the 
boy  stealthily  a  moment,  till  he  was  quite  sure  he 
was  right,  he  left  his.  desk  to  make  a  circuit  of  the 
room,  that  he  might  come  up  behind  the  culprit, 
and  surprise  him.  He  chuckled  to  himself  as  he 
thought  about  it,  and  planned  some  new  mode  of 
punishing  the  offender.  What  an  example  he 
would  make  of  him  when  caught !  He  went  first 
to  the  window,  and  looked  out ;  then  he  passed 
quietly  down  the  side  aisle,  glancing  at  the  work 
the  boys  were  doing.  Reaching  the  back  of  the 
room,  he  paused  a  moment,  and  then  moved  slowly 


IKE    PARTINGTON.  23 

along  the  centre  aisle,  on  tiptoe,  to  where  the 
transgressor  sat.  He  knew  that  the  boy  was 
guilty,  because  he  could  plainly  see  two  books 
open  before  him.  He  knew  also  that  he  was  not 
observed  by  the  offender,  who  seemed  entirely 
absorbed  by  his  book.  He  therefore  crept  along 
stealthily,  like  a  cat  aiming  for  a  mouse,  and  when 
within  a  few  benches  of  him,  before  he  had  a 
chance  to  spring,  Ike  suddenly  pulled  down  the 
top  book,  and  put  it  into  his  desk,  which  was  open 
in  front.  .Stepping  forward  then,  the  teacher  said, 
in  his  severest  tone,  — 

"  You  call  that  studying,  do  you,  Partington  ?  " 
"Yes,  sir,"  said  Ike,  apparently  confused. 
"What  book  is  that  which  you  have  just  put 
into  your  desk  ?  " 
"My  lesson,  sir." 

"  Your  lesson,  indeed  !  Let  me  see  it,  sir ! " 
The  book  was  taken  out,  with  seeming  reluc- 
tance;  and  it  proved  to  be  indeed  the  lesson  of 
the  morning.  He  saw  that  both  books  were  the 
same ;  and,  coloring  away  to  the  roots  of  his  hair, 
the  discomfited  teacher  moved  back  to  his  desk, 
while  Ike,  with  a  sly  twist  in  the  corner  of  his 
mouth,  winked  at  one  of  his  neighbors,  and  a 


24  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

simmering  laugh  was  heard  for  an  instant,  which 
was  immediately  checked  by  the  master's  shout  of 
"Silence!" 

His  suspicion  of  Ike  increased  after  this;  and 
his  eye  was  on  the  supposed  offender  all  the  time, 
every  look  of  whom  seemed  to  be  defiance,  every 
gesture  rebellion.  The  boy  could  not  move  his 
arm  without  awaking  in  the  teacher's  mind  the 
impression  that  there  was  treason  in  it.  Ike  saw 
an  opening  here  for  another  trick. 

The  penalty  for  communicating,  in  any  way, 
was  severe. 

One  morning,  as  the  teacher  sat  overlooking  his 
school,  his  eye  rested  upon  Ike,  as  usual ;  and, 
though  the  youngster  seemed  very  busy,  he  saw 
something  in  his  conduct  which  fixed  his  attention 
on  him  immediately.  Ike  took  a  slip  of  paper 
from  beneath  his  desk,  and  apparently  wrote 
something  on  it ;  then  he  slyly  slipped  the  paper 
between  the  leaves  of  a  book,  and  passing  it  to 
his  neighbor,  without  speaking,  made  a  motion 
towards  Moody,  who  sat  the  other  side  of  the 
room.  The  teacher  saw  the  book  pass  from  hand 
to  hand  until  it  reached  Moody.  Before  the  boy 
had  a  chance  to  open  it,  he  cried  out,  — 


IKE    PARTINGTON.  25 

"Bring  that  book  here,  Moody." 

Moody  complied  very  readily,  and  brought  the 
book  to  the  teacher's  desk. 

"  What  book  is  that,  Moody  ?  " 

"My  Arithmetic,  sir." 

"Who  sent  it  to  you?" 

"  Guess  'twas  Partington,  sir :  I  left  it  at  his 
desk." 

"Partington,  come  here.  Did  you  send  this 
book  ? " 

"Yes,  sir." 

"  Why  did  you  send  it  to  him  ?  " 

"  'Cause  'twas  his,  and  against  the  rules  to  carry 
it  to  him." 

"  What  did  you  put  into  it  before  you  sent  it  ? " 

"  A  piece  of  paper,  sir." 

"What  was  on  the  paper?" 

"I  didn't  see  any  thing,  sir." 

"You  didn't,  did  you  ?     Well,  I  will  see." 

He  took  the  book,  found  the  slip,  inspected  it 
carefully,  and  then  laid  it  in  again.  There  was 
not  a  mark  on  it. 

"  What  did  you  mean  by  putting  that  paper  in 
the  book  ? " 

"To  mark  the  morning  lesson,  sir." 


26  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

"  Didn't  you  mean  to  deceive  me  by  pretending 
to  write  on  it  ?  " 

"How  did  I  know  you  was  watching  me  ?  " 

This  finished  the  examination.  No  offence  had 
been  committed,  and  the  teacher  felt  that  he  had 
again  been  humbugged  by  a  sharp-witted  boy. 

Not  long  after  this  an  affair  occurred  which 
affected  the  whole  school.  On  a  warm  summer 
afternoon,  when  the  boys  were  out  at  recess,  the 
teacher,  who  was  much  oppressed  by  the  weather, 
sat  down  at  his  desk  to  think.  The  current  of  his 
thought,  however,  became  disturbed  by  the  influ- 
ence of  the  weather.  The  warmth,  the  laughter 
of  the  boys  at  their  play  not  near  enough  to  be 
noisy,  and  the  stillness  of  the  room,  had  a  drowsy 
effect  on  him,  and  in  a  few  moments  he  fell  asleep  ! 
The  boys  had  been  out  beyond  their  time ;  and, 
though  they  made  no  objection,  they  were  curious 
to  see  how  it  was  that  they  were  thus  favored. 
They  went  very  softly  to  the  door,  and  peeped  in  ; 
and,  seeing  the  master  asleep,  they  were  much 
elated.  It  would  not  be  good  manners,  they 
thought,  to  awaken  him ;  for,  if  he  chose  to  sleep,  it 
was  no  business  of  theirs :  and  therefore  they  "  let 
him  sleep  on,"  like  Sir  John  Moore  at  Corunna. 


IKE    PARTINGTON.  2/ 

Some  fifteen  minutes  more  were  added  to  his  nap, 
and  the  waiting  grew  tiresome.  Then  the  spirit 
of  mischief  inspired  them  to  play  some  trick  on 
the  slumberer.  So,  after  debating  what  to  do, 
they  delegated  one  of  their  number  to  do  what  he 
had  a  mind  to. 

The  old  school-bell  was  rung  by  a  rope  attached 
to  a  long  curved  iron  lever  on  top,  which  rope 
came  down  behind  the  teacher's  chair.  Creep- 
ing in  very  softly,  the  boy  set  the  bell  noiselessly, 
tied  the  rope  around  the  bottom  rung  of  the 
chair,  and  left  to  await  the  result.  They  did  not 
have  to  wait  long :  for  they  began  to  make  a  great 
noise ;  and  one,  putting  his  head  in  at  the  door, 
shouted  "  Muggins  ! "  as  loud  as  he  could  bawl. 

The  teacher  started  "like  a  guilty  thing,"  looked 
at  his  watch  an  instant,  and  then,  leaving  his  seat, 
turned  round  to  ring  the  bell  and  call  them  in. 
To  his  surprise  the  chair  jumped  up,  turned  over 
with  a  crash,  and  danced  as  if  it  were  bewitched. 
In  vain "  he  asked  who  did  it.  Nobody  knew. 
Then  he  thought  that  to  harshly  push  the  inquiry 
might  prove  the  worse  for  him,  and  so  he  apolo- 
gized to  the  boys ;  and  while  he  remained  with 
them  was  less  severe  towards  them,  and  got 


28  IKE    PARTINGTON. 


along  a  great  deal  better.     It  was  never  told  who 
did  the  bell  trick,  but  Ike  was  there. 

Ike  got  caught  under  the  milder  discipline. 
One  day  he  and  Clem  Jackson  contrived  a  rude 
checker-board  on  the  cover  of  an  atlas  ;  and,  as 
there  was  only  a  narrow  space  between  the  desks 
at  which  they  sat,  they  determined  on  having  a 
game.  They  watched  the  master  to  see  if  he  was 
noticing  them ;  but  he  had  a  number  of  the 
scholars  round  his  desk,  who  were  all  asking 
questions,  and  they  seemed  quite  hidden  from  his 
sight.  So  Ike  put  the  board  on  a  little  pile  of 
books  upon  the  floor;  and,  preparing  their  men, 
the  boys  began  to  play.  They  would  give  an  occa- 
sional glance  toward  the  teacher,  to  assure  them- 
selves that  they  were  safe,  and  were  having  a  fine 
time,  the  other  boys  in  the  vicinity  looking  on  to 
note  the  progress  of  the  game.  The  checker-men 
were  small  pieces  of  writing-book  cover ;  one  of 
the  boys  having  the  blue  side,  the  other  the  white. 
They  couldn't  play  very  well,  and  so  it  required 
more  attention.  The  interest  increased  as  they 
went  on,  until  their  glances  at  the  teacher  were 
less  frequent ;  but  they  thought  they  could  see, 
out  of  the  "corner  of  their  eye,"  that  he  was  still 


IKE    PARTINGTON. 


29 


engaged  with  the  crowd  of  questioners  at  his 
desk,  and  felt  perfectly  unobserved.  They  played 
on,  therefore,  in  fancied  security,  and  got  to  the 
most  exciting  part  of  the  game,  Jackson  having 
the  advantage,  when  — 


"  JUMP  HIM,  JACKSON  !  "  said  a  terrible  well- 
known  voice  right  behind  them. 

It  was  the  teacher,  who  had  left  the  inquirers 
standing  at  the  desk  while  he  went  for  the  delin- 
quents, having  seen  them  all  the  while. 

"Jump  him,  Jackson'  '  he  repeated. 


30  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

But  Jackson  at  that  moment  would  rather  have 
jumped  out  of  the  window,  and  gone  home,  while 
Ike  was  overwhelmed.  The  boys  laughed,  and  the 
teacher  enjoyed  a  splendid  triumph  as  he  walked 
to  his  desk.  He  did  not  punish  them,  for  he 
thought  their  mortification  was  enough  ;  and  Jack- 
son was  called  "  Jumping  Jack  "  in  school,  by  the 
boys,  from  that  day. 


THE    OLD    CELLAR.  3! 


CHAPTER   III. 

THE  CREEK  POETS. BALLAD  OF  BULL  PAD-DOCK. 

ROUND  THE  OLD  CELLAR. IKE  DROPS  IN  AT 

A  FROGS'  CONCERT. 

THERE  were  lively  times  at  the  "  Corner," 
the  summer  that  Ike  came  there  to  live. 
The  boys  made  it  specially  noisy  on  the  summer 
evenings  about  the  old  cellar  on  the  hill,  to  the 
great  disgust  of  the  frogs,  who  sat  and  watched 
them  with  great  wondering  eyes,  but  kept  well 
out  of  their  way, 'not  wishing  an  introduction  to 
them,  —  like  Mrs.  Partington,  who  did  not  wish  to 
be  introduced  to  anybody  she  was  not  acquainted 
with.  They  —  the  boys,  not  the  frogs  —  would 
sit  on  the  great  rock  near  the  cellar,  or  down  on 
the  margin  of  the  creek,  and  watch  the  lightning 
which  flashed  up  in  the  west,  each  taking  his  turn 
for  the  next  flash,  as  if  it  were  a  swing,  and  the 
one  who  had  the  brightest  exulting  about  it. 

On  one  occasion  they  had  gathered  about  the 


32  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

great  rock,  and  had  told  wonderful  stories  until 
they  were  weary,  when  Tom  Hall,  with  a  new 
inspiration,  said,  — 

"Come,  let's  make  up  some  rhymes." 

"What  fun  is  there  in  that?"  queried  one  of 
the  number,  who  had  no  more  rhyme  in  him  than 
the  frogs  that  were  croaking  in  the  cellar. 

"  No  matter :  let's  try,"  said  Tom. 

"Well,  you  begin." 

"  Here  goes,  then  :  only  don't  be  too  hard  on  a 
fellow  if  he  doesn't  do  very  well,  — 

" There  was  an  old  fellow  named  Stoker: 
Oh,  he  was  a  terrible  soaker  ! 

His  nose  in  the  night     ' 

Folks  thought  was  a  light, 
And  it  shone  like  a  red-hot  poker." 

This  was  received  with  a  round  of  applause. 
It  was  tip-top,  they  all  said,  and  every  one  felt 
ambitious  to  do  as  well. 

"  Come,  Walters,  your  turn  next,"  said  a  half- 
dozen  voices  ;  and  Sim  Walters  said  he  would  try 
to  make  a  rhyme  about  Captain  Bob. 

"  Here  goes  :  — 


THE    CREEK    POETS.  33 

"  Captain  Bob  is  a  jolly  old  brick ; 
No  one  to  him  can  shake  a  stick : 
O'er  many  a  land  he's  been  a  goner, 
But  mostly  down  here  to  Clam  Corner." 

" Pretty  good,"  said  Bill  Tibbets ;  "but  I  don't 
believe  the  captain  would  like  it  very  well." 

"He  won't  know  any  thing  about  it;  and  it's 
only  rhyme,  you  know,  any  way." 

"That's  so,"  from  a  number. 

"Well,  now  let's  see  what  you  can  do,  Bill,"  said 
Walters. 

Bill  straightened  himself  up  to  it,  pulled  down 
his  vest,  and  began,  — 

"  There  was  a  man  in  our  town 

Whose  name  was  Mr.  Grum ; 
And  when  old  Scratchy  called  for  him, 
He  said  he  wouldn't  come." 

This  raised  a  great  laugh,  and  Bill  was  voted  a 
poet  right  away.  But  he  said  he  didn't  like  to  be 
personal.  He  had  no  idea,  himself,  how  it  was 
coming  out  when  he  began,  and  he  couldn't  help 
saying  it ;  showing  what  a  mysterious  thing  poeti- 
cal inspiration  is. 


34  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

"  Now,  Ike,  your  turn  :  give  us  something  senti- 
mental." 

Ike  said  he  was  not  much  at  rhyming,  but  would 
do  his  best ;  and  after  thinking  a  few  seconds  he 
went  on,  — 

"  The  cow  flies  over  the  meadow  hill, 
Lit  by  the  torch  of  the  whippoorwill ; 
The  codfish  sings  in  the  turnip  tree, 
And  the  woodchuck  chirps  to  the  bouncing  bee." 

"That's  good  rhyme,  but  there  isn't  much 
reason  to  it,"  said  Joe  Laighton. 

"  Well,"  replied  Ike,  "  I  should  like  to  know  if 
lots  of  poetry  isn't  the  same  way.  I've  seen 
poetry  that's  called  good,  that's  got  no  more  reason 
than  mine  has." 

The  others  said  he  was  right,  and  called  upon 
Joe  to  show  what  he  could  do  better  than  that. 
So  Joe,  looking  down  into  the  old  cellar  where 
the  frogs  were  singing  their  evening  song,  thus  let 
himself  out :  — 

"  The  frog  he  is  a  funny  little  fish  : 
He's  got  a  mouth  like  a  pudding-dish. 
He  sits  in  the  cellar  all  day  long, 
And  sings  at  night  his  opera-song." 


INTRODUCES    BULL-PADDOCK.  35 

"  Pretty  good  !  "  was  the  verdict  of  the  boys. 

"Pretty  good!"  said  Joe:  "is  that  all  you've 
got  to  say  ?  Now,  I  call  it  the  best  thing  yet. 
Come,  Lem  Tucker,  you  were  one  that  said  'twas 
pretty  good :  now  let  us  see  if  you  can  make  any 
thing  that  will  begin  with  it." 

"Oh,  I  can't!  'tisn't  in  me,"  said  Lem. 

"That's  bosh;  for  I  heard  you  the  other  day 
reeling  off  about  a  rod  of  rhymes  on  a  frog,  if  it 
wasn't  so  good  as  mine.  So  fire  away." 

"That's  a  piece  I  learned  to  speak  in  school. 
That  isn't  mine." 

"Well,  let's  have  it,"  they  all  cried. 

"  'Tisn't  funny,"  said  he. 

"No  matter:  let's  have  it." 

Lem's  voice  was  a  little  shaky  at  first,  but  he 
soon  gained  confidence  as  he  recited  the  spirited 
ballad  of 

BULL   OF   PAD-DOCK. 

Lazily  sitting  upon  a  log, 

Near  by  his  home  the  lilies  among, 
The  dandy  of  the  meadowy  bog, 

Bull  of  Pad-dock,  is  croaking  his  song : 
"  Bull  Pad-dock !     Bull  Pad-dock ! 
Chock,  chuck,  chock ! 


36  IKE    PARTINGTON. 


Here  I  snugly  and  safely  rest, 
Hid  from  gaze  in  the  hassock's  breast. 
Chug,  chug,  chug  !  " 

Bull  of  Pad-dock  is  jauntily  dressed, 
Wearing  a  bright  green  fancy  coat, 
Pants  of  the  same,  with  yellow  vest, 
And  a  pure  white  choker  round  his  throat. 
Bull  Pad-dock !     Bull  Pad-dock  ! 
Chock,  chuck,  chock ! 
See  what  a  coat !  —  not  wrinkled  a  bit,  — 
Did  you  ever  see  a  finer  fit  ?  • 
Chug,  chug,  chug ! 

Bull  of  Pad-dock  has  got  a  wife, 

Living  below  with  her  kindred  folks : 
She  sometimes  peeps  at  outdoor  life, 
While  he  his  song  in  the  sunshine  croaks. 
Bull  Pad-dock !     Bull  Pad-dock ! 
Chock,  chuck,  chock ! 
But  he  greets  her  coming  with  surly  tone, 
And  says  he  had  rather  be  left  alone. 
Chug,  chug,  chug ! 

Her  froglings  crowd  the  lily-pads, 

Neatly  clad  in  their  coats  of  green,  — 
The  frogling  lasses  and  frogling  lads, 
With  snow-white  aprons  neat  and  clean. 
Bull  Pad-dock !     Bull  Pad-dock ! 
Chock,  chuck,  chock ! 


SELF-SATISFACTION.  37 

She  from  her  young  ones  seldom  goes  out, 
For  she  knows  the  pickerel  fish  are  about. 
Chug,  chug,  chug ! 

Bull  of  Pad-dock  don't  care  a  snap, 

Like  many  a  human  we  have  seen : 
No  family  cares  disturb  his  nap 
When  he  pillows  his  head  on  the  cresses  green. 
Bull  Pad-dock !     Bull  Pad-dock ! 
Chock,  chuck,  chock ! 
Oh,  an  easy  life  lives  the  meadow  frog, 
While  his  wife  takes  care  of  the  babes  in  the  bog ! 
Chug,  chug,  chug ! 

The  boys  told  him  that  they  liked  it  very  well, 
and  wished  it  were  longer  and  better  ;  and  Lem 
was  proud  of  his  performance.  All  claimed  that 
their  own  rhymes  were  the  best,  and  that  some 
other  time  they  would  try  again. 

It  sometimes  happened  that  they  told  such 
terrible  stories  about  giants,  ghosts,  and  hobgob- 
lins, that  some  of  them  were  afraid  to  go  home 
alone ;  and  one  night  there  had  been  a  run  of 
such  stories  that  made  the  hair  of  the  timid  stand 
up  so  as  almost  to  push  their  hats  off.  They  were 
very  glad  to  have  Captain  Bob  come  and  sit  down 
with  them,  as  it  relieved  them  of  a  great  deal  of 


38  IKE    PARTINGTON. 


their  fear.  They  all  felt,  that,  if  the  biggest  ghost 
that  ever  was  known  were  to  come,  the  captain 
would  be  more  than  a  match  for  it. 

"  Captain,  do  you  believe  in  ghosts?"  ques- 
tioned Ike. 

"  Not  much,"  replied  Captain  Bob  ;  "but  did  any 
of  ye  ever  hear  of  the  haunted  house  that  they 
had  in  Rivertown  a  good  many  years  ago  ?  " 

They  told  him  they  had  not. 

"Well,"  he  continued,  "that  was  a  pretty  lively 
sort  of  a  ghost,  I  tell  you.  The  old  Dunkle 
House,  after  the  death  of  '  Uncle  Dunkle '  as  all 
used  to  call  him,  was  shut  up  as  tight  as  a  bottle, 
and  nobody  wanted  to  live  there.  The  longer  it 
was  empty  the  more  folks  didn't  want  to  occupy 
it ;  and  so  at  last  it  kinder  got  the  name  of  being 
haunted.  As  soon  as  this  got  round,  almost 
everybody  believed  it ;  and  many  had  stories  to  tell 
of  lights  seen  there,  and  poundings  heard,  and 
white  shapes  at  the  windows ;  and  folks  hurried 
by  the  house  after  dark  for  fear.  Then  the  peo- 
ple really  began  to  hear  sounds,  like  heavy  blows, 
in  different  rooms  at  night,  and  sometimes  they 
would  hear  'em  even  in  daylight.  Early  one 
evening  old  Mr.  Styles  the  blacksmith,  whose 


CAPTAIN    BOB  S    PARTY.  39 

shop  was  right  opposite  the  house,  heard  the 
pounding,  and  saw  the  people  running  by,  half 
scared  out  of  their  wits.  He  didn't  believe  in 
ghosts,  nor  in  much  of  any  thing  else ;  and  so, 
after  listening  a  few  minutes,  he  took  a  big  black- 
smith's hammer,  and  went  over  to  interview  the 
ghost.  He  tried  the  door,  which  was  fast,  and 
heard  some  loud  pounding  inside  that  jarred  the 
house.  Then  he  gave  the  door  a  blow  with  his 
hammer,  which  forced  it  open,  and  in  he  went. 
He  heard  the  knocking  overhead,  and  a  deep 
groan.  Up  he  went,  and  then  he  heard  the  sounds 
in  another  room.  He  followed  from  room  to 
room,  until  he  heard  the  sounds  down  cellar.  He 
followed  down,  and  then  all  was  still.  The  cellar 
was  not  so  dark  that  he  couldn't  see,  but  there 
was  no  sign  of  the  ghost  there.  He  was  on 
the  point  of  leaving,  when  he  saw  a  barrel  in  the 
deeper  shadows  of  the  cellar.  It  was  a  common 
flour-barrel,  with  the  head  whole;  and,  lifting 
his  hammer,  he  broke  the  head  in  with  a  crash, 
at  the  same  time  nearly  breaking  in  the  head  of 
little  Johnny  Purslaine  the  tailor,  that  popped  up 
out  of  the  barrel,  beneath  which  he  had  been  hid. 
The  blacksmith  led  him  out  by  the  ear,  and  told 


4O  IKE    PARTINGTON. 


the  ones  who  had  gathered  round  that  he  had 
caught  the  ghost.  They  were  going  to  mob 
Johnny  ;  but  Styles  told  'em,  that,  if  Johnny  was  a 
rogue,  they  were  cowards,  which  he  thought  was 
worse,  and  so  they  let  him  go.  The  house  was  let 
the  next  day,  and  not  a  ghost  was  seen  or  heard  in 
it  afterwards." 

"  'Twas  mean  to  be  afraid,"  said  Andy  Gate.- 

"  I'd  ha'  gone  right  in,"  echoed  Ike.  "  I  wouldn't 
ha'  been  afraid." 

"You  wouldn't,  hey?"  replied  the  captain. 
"  P'raps,  my  young  friend,  if  you  had  a  chance  to 
try  your  courage  you  would  come  out  of  it  as  bad 
as  I  did  once." 

"  Were  you  ever  scared  ? "  asked  the  boys. 

Captain  Bob  laughed.  "Well,  you  may  jedge 
yourselves,"  said  he.  "  About  a  hundred  years  ago 
a  man  named  Clough  was  hanged,  up  here  a  bit, 
for  killing  another  man ;  and  he  was  buried  at  the 
foot  of  the  gallows  where  two  roads  cross.  When 
I  was  a  boy  it  was  said  by  the  old  folks,  that  if 
any  one  should  go  at  night,  and  stamp  on  the 
grave,  saying  with  a  loud  voice,  'Clough,  what 
were  you  hanged  for  ? '  he  would  say  nothing. 
One  night  I  was  stumped  to  try  it.  I  thought 


TEST   OF    COURAGE.  41 

there  wasn't  any  thing  that  could  scare  me,  for  I 
felt  pretty  courageous,  and  so  I  said  I'd  go;  and 
I  went,  all  alone,  as  brave  as  you  please.  When  I 
came  near  the  place,  I  began  to  have  the  queerest 
feelings,  and  wished  that  I  hadn't  undertaken  the 
job.  But  I  would  be  laughed  at  if  I  backed  out ; 
and  though  I  felt  my  knees  shake,  and  the  sweat 
pour  off  my  face,  I  stamped  on  the  grave,  and 
shouted,  '  dough,  what  were  you  hanged  for  ? ' ' 

Here  the  captain  paused,  and  laughed  to  him- 
self. 

"  Well,  what  did  you  hear  ? "  cried  a  half-dozen 
impatient  voices. 

"To  tell  the  truth,"  replied  the  captain,  "I 
didn't  wait  to  hear  any  thing,  but  put  for  home  as 
fast  as  I  could  run.  I  dare  say,  however,  he  said 
nothing,  just  as  much  as  though  I  had  waited." 
The  captain  chuckled  as  he  finished,  as  if  he 
enjoyed  the  recollection  very  much. 

The  boys  saw  the  joke,  and  gave  three  cheers 
for  Captain  Bob. 

There  were  boisterous  games  played  around  the 
old  cellar,  when  "Bloody  Tom"  and  "Whip  to 
Barbary  "  made  the  night  hideous  to  quiet  people, 
whose  ears  would  be  assailed  by  the  boyish 
duet,  — 


42  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

"  Who  goes  round  my  house  by  night  ?  " 

"  Only  Bloody  Tom." 
"  Who  is  it  steals  my  sheep  by  night  ?  " 

"  Only  this  fat  one." 

Or  the  other  equally  noisy  :  — 

"  How  many  miles  to  Barbary  ?  " 

"  Threescore  and  ten." 
"  Can  I  get  there  by  candle-light?" 

"  Yes,  and  back  again." 

"  Whip  to  Barbary ! " 

This  last  was  followed  by  a  race  around  the  old 
cellar,  and  down  through  the  street  of  the  Corner, 
like  a  hurricane,  until  the  boys  reached  Barbary, 
—  the  place  from  which  they  started, — puffing 
and  blowing  like  young  porpoises,  but  showing 
very  healthy  lungs  as  they  disputed  about  the 
game ;  for  boys  always  will  dispute,  and  never 
know  exactly  when  they  are  satisfied.  On  one 
of  these  occasions  Ike  attempted,  while  racing 
around  the  old  cellar,  to  trip  the  one  behind  him, 
and  throw  him  down  among  the  frogs.  He  was  full 
of  the  fun  of  the  thing,  and  laughed  to  himself  as 
he  imagined  the  figure  the  fellow  would  cut  as  he 
rolled  down  the  embankment ;  but  when  he  made 


FROG    CONCERT   DISTURBED. 


43 


the  attempt  the  one  before  him  stumbled  and  fell, 
and  Ike,  falling  over  him,  pitched  head  first  into 
the  water.  Such  a  shout  went  up  as  he  crawled 
out,  all  dripping  with  wet !  Served  him  right, 
every  just-minded  boy  will  say;  but  Ike  felt  as  if 
he  was  a  sort  of  mar- 
tyr, and  didn't  laugh 
any  to  speak  of.  The 
frogs  complained  to 
one  another,  after  the 
boys  had  gone,  be- 
cause Ike's  dropping 
in  upon  them  so  sud- 
denly  had  interrupted 
a  first-class  concert. 

"  Isaac  !  "  said  Mrs. 
Partington  as  he  came 
in  drenched  with  water,  "  what  do  you  want  to  act 
so  like  the  Probable  Son  for  ?    You  are  not  a  fish." 

"I  fell  in,"  replied  Ike. 

"  Well,  now  go  to  bed ;  and,  if  you  fall  in  again, 
you  and  I  will  fall  out." 


44  IKE   PARTINGTON. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

THE  OVEN  BY  THE  SHORE.  —  THE  SEA-MONSTER.  — 

CAPTAIN  BOB  SENT  FOR. THE  GREAT  SHOW. 

THE  CAPTAIN  TREATS  ON  GRAPE-CULTURE. 

THE  creek  was  a  scene  of  rare  sport  for  the 
boys  who  met  there  on  Monday  and  Satur- 
day afternoons  to  sail  or  swim.  There  was  a  rich 
deposit  of  clams  along  the  shore ;  and  when  the 
tide  was  out  the  boys  would  dig  these  ground-nuts, 
as  Ike  called  them,  and  roast  them  with  fire  made 
of  the  chips  that  had  drifted  ashore  and  dried. 
No  dish  cooked  at  home  tasted  half  so  nice  as  these 
clams,  seasoned  with  smoke  and  black  mud  ;  and 
the  labor  of  digging  them  was  prime  fun,  although 
the  boys  would  have  thought  it  hard  work  if  they 
had  been  compelled  to  hoe  out  weeds  or  split 
kindling-wood  with  half  the  labor. 

One  afternoon  they  determined  to  build  a  "  real 
oven  "  down  by  the  shore,  in  which  to  bake  their 
clams.  So  they  hired  Captain  Bob's  boat,  "The 


OVEN    BY    THE    SHORE.  45 

Jolly  Robin,"  at  two  cents  an  hour,  and  brought 
a  load  of  imperfect  bricks  from  the  old  brick-yard 
up  the  creek;  and  one  having  brought  a  shovel, 
another  a  trowel,  a  third  a  hatchet,  and  others 
something  else  to  work  with,  they  took  off  their 
jackets,  and  went  at  it.  The  confusion  attending 
the  building  of  the  Tower  of  Babel  could  hardly 
have  been  greater  than  that  which  was  shown  here. 
All  would  be  engineers.  The  boy  who  brought 
the  shovel  insisted  on  his  right  to  do  the  digging, 
the  one  with  the  trowel  to  lay  the  bricks,  while 
each  one  claimed  some  special  office  for  the  tool 
he  had  brought. 

There  was  a  stone,  about  two  feet  high,  jutting 
out  from  the  bank,  which  was  straight  up  and 
down  on  one  side,  as  if  it  had  been  prepared  on 
purpose  for  them ;  and  they  decided  to  build  the 
oven  up  against  it.  So  the  dirt  was  levelled  off 
beside  the  stone  by  the  boy  with  the  shovel,  the 
one  with  the  hatchet  cut  the  bank  next  it  smooth- 
ly down,  while  the  trowel  fellow  superintended 
the  making  of  mortar  out  of  clay.  All  busied 
themselves.  A  flat  stone  was  found  for  the  bot- 
tom of  the  oven,  which  was  bedded  in  mortar ; 
then  two  rows  of  bricks  were  laid  up  against  the 


46  IKE    PARTINGTON. 


side  of  the  bank,  and  others,  the  same  height,  on 
the  outside,  the  rock  forming  the  back,  the  front 
below  left  open  for  the  furnace.  Then  a  flat  stone 
was  brought  and  laid  on  the  bricks,  for  the  floor 
of  the  oven ;  two  rows  more  of  bricks  were  laid 
on  this,  all  round,  another  flat  stone  put  on  top, 
and  the  oven  was  done.  A  little  piece  of  the 
corner  of  the  oven  floor  had  been  chipped  off, 
round  which  a  chimney  of  clay  had  been  built 
for  a  flue,  which  was  to  lead  the  smoke  off. 

There  could  not  have  been  much  more  exulta- 
tion at  the  finishing  of  Solomon's  Temple  than 
attended  the  completion  of  this  great  work.  Even 
those  who  had  done  nothing  but  bring  the 
mortar  claimed  that  its  superiority  was  owing  to 
them ;  which,  of  course,  was  noisily  denied  by 
those  of  the  shovel  and  trowel.  But  there  arose 
a  dispute  now  as  to  who  should  dig  the  clams. 
Each  one  contended  that  he  had  done  his  share 
xof  the  work ;  but  the  tide  was  coming  in,  and  they 
all  saw  that  their  oven  would  be  of  no  use  if  they 
had  no  clams  to  bake  in  it,  and  so  they  concluded 
to  sacrifice  a  little  to  expediency,  and  "pitched 
in"  with  a  will  to  secure  their  bivalves  before  the 
tide  covered  them  up.  This  was  soon  done,  and 


TOUCHING    IT    OFF.  47 

then  preparations  were  made  for  lighting  the  fire. 
Dry  chips  had  been  brought,  which,  with  a  news- 
paper, had  been  put  into  the  furnace;  and  now 
another  altercation  arose  as  to  who  should  have 
the  honor  of  "  touching  her  off."  It  was  decided 
in  favor  of  Tom  Whidden,  the  boy  with  the 
shovel,  and  great  excitement  prevailed. 

"  Now  get  out  of  the  way,"  said  he,  "  or  some 
of  you'll  get  drawn  up  the  chimney." 

He  scratched  a  match,  and  applied  it  to  the 
kindling  stuff.  It  took  fire,  blazed  a  moment, 
and  then  went  out  in  smoke.  Great  disappoint- 
ment was  felt  by  all ;  and  the  opinion  was  ex- 
pressed, in  no  very  flattering  terms,  that  Tom 
hadn't  touched  it  off  right,  whereat  he  was  very 
indignant.  He  yielded  to  another,  who,  after  the 
kindlings  had  again  been  fixed,  tried  it  with  no 
better  success. 

"Here,  Ike,  you  try  it,"  cried  half  a  dozen 
voices. 

Ike  was  sitting  upon  the  bank  near  the  chim- 
ney, to  see,  as  he  said,  the  smoke  come  out ;  and 
when  they  called  him  he  came  down. 

"  'Tis  easy  enough  to  do  that,"  he  said. 

"Well,  le's  see  you  try  it." 


48  IKE    PARTINGTON. 


He  stooped  down  and  fixed  the  kindlings,  rum- 
maged in  his  pockets  for  some  more  paper,  made 
a  little  opening  among  the  wood,  and  applied  the 
match.  The  fire  took,  the  smoke  drew  up  through 
the  little  chimney,  and  the  whole  furnace  was  in  a 
blaze. 

"  Hurrah,  hurrah  !  "  yelled  the  boys,  and  danced 
wildly  around.  "  Bring  more  wood  !  "  and  every 
one  ran  to  get  fuel,  the  fire  going  splendidly.  It 
was  not  for  a  moment  suspected  that  Ike  had  had 
his  hand  on  the  flue,  as  he  sat  there,  to  feel  the 
heat  as  well  as  see  the  smoke,  when  the  others 
tried  to  light  it ;  and  he  got  considerable  praise  for 
what  he  did  not  really  deserve,  and  so  much  the 
worse  for  him. 

But  the  success  was  not  complete ;  for  the  wet 
work  required  more  fire  than  could  be  raised  to 
dry  it,  the  stone  forming  the  bottom  of  the  oven 
was  too  thick  to  be  heated  through,  and  the  after- 
noon was  growing  short :  so  they  compromised  by 
baking  their  clams  in  the  old  way,  and  left  the 
oven  for  future  experiment.  But  that  very  night 
a  high  tide  came  up  which  surrounded  the  oven : 
the  wind  blew  over  the  creek,  and  dashed  the 
water  upon  it ;  and  when  they  went  to  see  it  the 
next  day,  they  found  it  a  miserable  ruin ! 


THE    SEA-MONSTER.  49 

But  it  is  said  that  it  is  an  ill  wind  that  don't 
blow  anywhere ;  and  as  Ike  and  the  rest  looked 
upon  the  wreck,  and  fretted  about  it,  one  cried 
out,  "  Look  there ! "  and  pointed  to  a  pile  of  eel- 
grass  that  had  drifted  ashore,  in  the  midst  of 
which  were  seen  a  pair  of  terrible  eyes,  that 
seemed  to  be  watching  them.  The  eyes  were  as 
large  as  a  man's,  and  had  an  evil  look  in  them, 
which  made  the  boys  scramble  up  the  bank  with 
terror.  Looking  down  they  saw  what  seemed  to 
be  the  form  of  a  monstrous  fish  entangled  in  the 
seaweed,  which  flapped  its  tail  as  if  trying  to  free 
itself. 

"  Run  for  Captain  Bob,"  cried  Ike. 

Joe  Hayes  and  Si  Moody  started  off  upon  a 
smart  run,  to  bring  the  captain ;  while  Ike  re- 
mained to  look  after  the  prisoner,  which  might  be 
a  whale,  or  a  shark,  or  a  sea-serpent,  so  far  as  he 
knew.  Finding  that  it  could  not  free  itself,  he 
ventured  near  it ;  and  the  great  eyes  looked  more 
evil  as  he  gazed  upon  them.  The  fish  struggled 
in  the  water,  and  Ike  was  afraid  it  would  get  away 
before  Captain  Bob  came ;  but  soon  he  heard 
voices,  and  the  captain  appeared,  armed  with  a 
long  boat-hook,  with  the  boys  by  his  side. 


5O  IKE    PARTINGTON. 


"  Hallo  !  "  cried  the  captain  from  the  top  of  the 
bank,  "  what  you  got  there  ?  " 

"The  sea-serpent,  I  guess,"  said  Ike,  as  the 
captain  came  down  to  where  he  stood. 

"  Rayther  guess  not :  that  ain't  no  sea-serpent ; 
for,  let  me  tell  you,  if  it  was  one  he'd  be  out- 
side of  you  in  about  two  shakes  of  a  sheep's 
tail." 

"Well,  what  is  it?" 

"  "Tis  a  curious  critter,  that's  plain  enough. 
-Now  walk  out  here,  old  chap,  and  let  us  see 
what  you  look  like." 

As  he  spoke,  the  captain  was  feeling  around, 
with  his  boat-hook,  where  he  supposed  the  crea- 
ture's mouth  was ;  and  as  he  found  it  he  said, 
"  Now  bend  on,  boys,  and  we'll  soon  see  what  he 
is." 

They  took  hold  with  him ;  and,  giving  a  pull,  they 
drew  out  the  ugliest  looking  monster  that  they 
or  anybody  else  had  ever  seen.  It  was  an  im- 
mense fish,  at  least  five  feet  long,  formed  some- 
thing like  a  sculpin,  its  body  looking  rough 
like  the  bark  of  a  tree.  Its  mouth  was  large 
enough  to  take  in  the  head  of  a  boy,  and  its  eyes 
looked  terrible  out  of  the  water. 


THE    PRIZE    LANDED. 


"That's  a  monkfish,"  said  Captain  Bob:  "seen 
lots  of  'em  down  to  Chaleur,  but  never  saw  one 
round  here  afore." 

The  fish  jumped  and  struggled,  but  at  last 
yielded  to  its  fate ;  and  when  it  was  dead  Cap- 


tain Bob  and  the  boys  hauled  it  up  into  the  field 
near  the  old  cellar.  The  captain,  having  per- 
formed his  duty  as  a  man  and  a  mariner,  went 
home,  leaving  to  the  boys  the  disposal  of  their 
prize. 


52  IKE    PARTINGTON. 


"  Now  what's  to  be  done  with  it  ?  "  said  Si. 

"  Let's  throw  it  among  the  frogs,"  suggested 
Joe. 

"  No  ;  I'll  tell  you  what,"  said  Ike  :  "  we'll  make 
an  exhibition  of  it." 

"Agreed,"  cried  the  others. 

The  boys  took  four  stakes  from  a  neighboring 
fence,  and  drove  them  into  the  ground  in  a  quad- 
rangular form,  about  the  fish  ;  and  then  Ike  went 
home  to  procure  something  to  make  a  tent  of. 
He  rummaged  high  and  low,  throwing  out  an  old 
patchwork  quilt,  a  bed-sack,  and  a  tablecloth  which 
had  out-served  its  usefulness. 

"  What  possesses  you  now  ? "  cried  Mrs.  Par- 
tington,  amazed  at  his  conduct :  "  what  are  you 
doing  ? " 

"  Going  to  make  a  tent,"  replied  Ike. 

"  For  what  purpose  ? " 

"  'Tain't  a  porpoise  :  'tis  a  monkey-fish,  so  Cap- 
tain Bob  says." 

"Why,  what  do  you  mean  by  that,  Isaac  ? " 

"We've  caught  a  big  fish,  and  are  going  to 
exhibit  him." 

"  Where  ? " 

"Out  there  where  the  boys  are." 


GRAND    EXHIBITION.  55 

The  old  dame,  without  her  bonnet,  went  out  to 
see  the  big  fish ;  and  Ike  followed,  bearing  the 
materials  for  the  tent,  which  he  promised  Mrs. 
Partington  he  would  be  very  careful  of,  and  said 
he  would  give  her  a  season  ticket  to  the  show 
for  the  use  of  them.  The  quilt,  the  bed-sack,  and 
the  tablecloth  answered  the  purpose  capitally, 
forming  a  serviceable  tent  large  enough,  stretched 
about  the  poles,  to  completely  hide  the  fish ;  and 
then,  getting  the  cover  of  Mrs.  Partington' s  shawl- 
box,  they  painted  a  sign,  with  wheel-grease,  which 

read, — 

"BIG    SEA    MONSTER. 

EXHIBISHUN. 
BOYS    I    CENT.      GROAN    FOLKS   3   CENTS." 

"There,"  said  Ike,  "that'll  bring. 'em." 

"Barnum  couldn't  ha'  done  no  better,"  said  Cap- 
tain Bob,  as  he  inspected  the  work;  "and  let  me 
tell  you  that  he  never  had  a  curiouser  thing  than 
that,  only  'tisn't  so  big  as  some  of  'em  I've  seen." 

"  Do  they  grow  very  big  ?  "  asked  Ike. 

"  Bless  you  !  yes  ;  so  big  'twould  take  more  than 
ten  yokes  of  oxen  to  get  one  up  here^  It  isn't  a 
very  handsome  beast,  but  it  has  a  better  look  when 
it  smiles." 


56  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

The  exhibition  was  held  during  off-school  hours, 
in  the  mornings  and  afternoons;  and  the  pen- 
nies came  in  pretty  freely.  The  editor  of  "  The 
Squash "  came,  and  wrote  an  article  about  the 
wonder,  which  attracted  much  attention.  After  a 
few  days,  however,  people  began  to  be  attracted 
away  from  it  as  far  as  they  could  get ;  and  the 
exhibition  closed  with  more  than  two  dollars  in 
the  treasury  to  be  divided,  —  Ike  taking  an  extra 
share  for  supplying  the  tent  and  sign,  —  which, 
the  boys  thought,  was  a  good  deal  better  than 
"hooking"  old  iron  to  sell  for  the  appropriate 
celebration  of  the  "Glorious  Fourth."  They  gave 
the  fish  to  Captain  Bob  to  bury  at  the  roots  of 
his  grapevine,  to  improve,  as  he  said,  the  "  flavior  " 
of  his  grapes. 

"Will  that  reprove  the  taste?"  asked  Mrs. 
Partington. 

"  Certainly,  ma'am,"  replied  Captain  Bob.  "  That 
vine,  out  there  now,  was  once  a  Concord.  I 
planted  three  dead  cats  at  the  root  of  it,  and,  if 
you  will  believe  me,  it  is  now  a  £#/-awba." 

"  A  singular  thing,  sir ;  but,  in  profligating 
flowers,  can  their  flagrance  be  infected  by  such 
means  ? " 


THE    SCENTED    LALOCK-BUSH.  57 

"  I  dare  say ;  for  I  emptied  my  shaving-cup 
several  times  out  at  the  window  on  a  lalock-bush, 
and  the  blossoms  smelt  like  Windsor  soap." 

"That's  very  curious,"  and  Mrs.  Partington 
pondered  upon  it. 


58  IKE    PARTINGTON. 


CHAPTER  V. 

VOYAGES  ON  THE  CREEK. "THE  JOLLY  ROBIN." 

THE    STRANGE  SAIL. IKE  SHIPWRECKED. CAP- 
TAIN   BOB    TO     THE    RESCUE.  SEA- YARN. MRS. 

PARTINGTON    ADMONISHES. 

ONE  of  the  greatest  sources  of  amusement 
for  the  boys  on  the  creek  was  to  borrow 
one  of  Captain  Bob's  boats,  and  row  about  pre- 
tending to  make  discoveries.  They  would  run  up 
into  coves,  and  land  on  points  that  projected  into 
the  creek,  hoist  a  handkerchief  on  a  stick,  and  take 
possession  in  the  name  of  Clam  Corner,  giving  them 
names,  like  the  old  navigators  of  which  they  had 
read.  Once  their  cruise  extended  round  the 
point  which  formed  the  water  boundary  of  the  old 
mansion  previously  named.  A  long  wall  extend- 
ed from  a  little  wharf  the  entire  length  of  the 
grounds,  inside  of  which  was  quite  a  pool,  skirted 
by  willows  on  the  farther  side.  A  part  of  the  wall 
had  fallen  down ;  and,  it  being  high  tide,  the  boat 


DOG   JACK    ON    DUTY.  59 

sailed  over  it  easily.  This  they  named  "  Ike  Par- 
tington  Inlet ; "  and,  sailing  in,  they  explored  the 
new  territory. 

Peeping  through  the  willows,  they  saw  the 
orchard  beyond,  laden  with  fruit,  which,  though 
nowhere  near  ripe,  was  very  tempting  to  them,  by 
a  provision  of  nature  ;  for  the  human  boy  naturally 
covets  green  fruit,  and  will  risk  more  to  procure 
it  than  he  would  any  amount  of  the  same  fruit 
when  fully  ripe  and  harmless.  Ike,  after  looking 
carefully  to  see  that  nobody  was  round,  ventured 
ashore,  and  crawled  up  through  the  grass  to  the 
nearest  tree,  to  see  if  there  were  any  windfalls  on 
the  ground,  when  he  was  attracted  by  a  rushing 
sound  through  the  grass,  and  knew  that  the  big 
black  dog  was  on  duty,  and  was  after  him.  He 
went  back  a  good  deal  quicker  than  he  came,  with- 
out stopping  to  explain  matters  to  the  beast,  and 
made  the  best  time  possible ;  for  there  is  no 
better  incentive  to  speed  than  the  knowledge  that 
a  big  dog  is  after  one.  Upon  reaching  the  boat, 
he  found  that  she  had  swung  out  about  half  a 
paddle's  length  from  the  shore.  His  first  thought 
was  to  have  her  pulled  in  :  the  second  was  not  to 
wait ;  and  he  leaped  for  her  just  as  the  dog  reached 


6o 


IKE    PARTINGTON. 


him,  leaving  in  the  animal's  mouth  a  generous 
fragment  of  his  pantaloons  as  a  souvenir.  This  was 
a  great  adventure ;  and,  as  the  boys  rowed  into  deep 

water, 
they  fan- 
cied they 
were  like 
Captain 
Cook's 
crew,  at- 
tacked 
by  the 
Sand- 
wich  Is- 
land sav- 
ages. 

But  the  breeziest, 
jolliest,  happiest 
times  upon  the 
creek  were  when 
the  boat  was  impelled  by  a  sail,  and  the  boy 
who  steered  her  fancied  himself  an  admiral  at 
least.  One  day  Ike  was  too  ill  to  go  to  school, 
and  thought  that  a  sail  on  the  pond  would  be 
good  for  him.  Getting  Mrs.  Partington's  con- 


A    STRANGE    SAIL. 


6l 


sent,  he  procured  Captain  Bob's  boat,  "The  Jolly 
Robin,"  and  launched  out  on  the  waves  of  the 
creek.  With  much  forethought  he  had  taken  one 
of  Mrs.  Partington's  calico  dresses  with  him  to 


use  for  a  sail,  in  want  of  a  better  one.  The  breeze 
was  too  strong  for  him  to  strive  against ;  so  he 
kept  near  shore,  and,  sick  as  he  was,  got  into  the 
water,  and  dragged  the  boat,  against  the  wind, 


62  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

away  round  the  head  of  the  creek  to  the  opposite 
side,  from  which  quarter  the  wind  blew.  This 
was  to  allow  him  to  sail  across,  and  he  proceeded 
to  arrange  his  canvas.  He  had  hauled  the  boat, 
stern  first,  upon  the  shore,  and  secured  her  so  that 
she  should  not  start  before  he  was  ready.  Taking 
the  dress,  he  thrust  a  stick  through  the  arms,  tied 
it  to  an  oar  planted  upright  against  the  fore  seat 
of  "  The  Jolly  Robin,"  and  then,  fastening  strings 
to  the  bottom  of  the  dress,  he  drew  them  aft,  tying 
them  on  each  side.  A  bunch  of  seaweed,  which 
he  had  playfully  placed  on  top  of  the  mast,  gave 
the  figure  the  appearance  of  an  old  lady,  with 
extended  arms,  balancing  on  the  bow  of  the  boat ; 
and  he  laughed  at  the  conceit. 

The  wind  filled  the  queer  sail,  and  "  The  Jolly 
Robin  "  struggled  to  escape.  Ike  saw  that  all  was 
right,  and  then  let  her  go.  She  started  off  gal- 
lantly before  the  wind,  the  water  dashing  from  her 
prow;  and  Ike,  steering  with  a  paddle,  felt  his 
blood  tingle  with  excitement  as  he  saw  the  shore 
glide  by,  forgetting,  in  his  pride,  even  the  sick- 
ness which  had  kept  him  from  school. 

Mrs.  Partington  sat  at  her  back  window,  knit- 
ting, enjoying  the  fresh  breeze  which  blew  up 


OVER    SHE    GOES.  63 

from  the  creek,  bearing  to  her  the  pleasant  odor 
of  decaying  eelgrass  which  lay  along  the  shore, 
when  she  was  attracted  by  the  strange  sail  which 
was  coming  so  swiftly  down  the  creek.  She  could 
not  see  the  helmsman,  who  was  hidden  from  her 
view  by  the  singular  figure  which  seemed  standing 
up  in  the  boat ;  but  the  dress  had  a  familiar  look, 
and  her  spectacles  fairly  blazed  with  curiosity  as 
the  vessel  drew  nearer.  When  it  reached  a  posi- 
tion opposite  to  where  she  sat,  she  recognized  Ike, 
proudly  steering,  and,  with  intense  excitement, 
called  to  him.  He  could  hear  her  but  faintly ;  and, 
lifting  his  paddle  out  of  the  water,  he  waved  it 
over  his  head  as  a  passing  salute.  Just  as  he  did 
so,  a  flaw  of  wind,  which  seemed  to  have  been 
watching  for  just  this  opportunity,  caught  the  sail : 
the  boat  veered,  and  in  an  instant  "  The  Jolly 
Robin  "  was  capsized.  Ike  clung  to  the  boat,  and 
yelled  for  help. 

As  soon  as  she  saw  the  accident,  Mrs.  Parting- 
ton  ran  screaming  to  her  neighbor  Grum,  and 
begged  him  to  rescue  her  boy,  who  was  drowning 
in  the  creek.  He  told  her  very  coolly,  though  the 
day  was  warm,  that  he  should  do  no  such  thing ; 
that  he  had  a  rheumatiz  in  his  knee ;  and  as  for 


64  IKE    PARTINGTON. 


the  boy,  he  could  get  out  well  enough,  and  that 
one  intended  to  be  hanged  would  never  be 
drowned.  She  left  in  great  indignation,  and  ran 
to  Captain  Bob,  whom  she  found  already  engaged 
in  preparations  to  rescue  the  young  shipwrecked 
mariner.  His  other  boats,  "  The  Lively  Turtle  " 
and  "The  Storm  Bug,"  were  away,  and  so  he  had 
to  invent  some  mode  by  which  to  reach  him. 

"  Will  he  drown  ? "  cried  the  old  lady,  wringing 
her  hands. 

"He  can't,  ma'am,"  replied  the  captain:  "the 
water  isn't  more'n  four  feet  deep  where  he  is." 

Captain  Bob  could  very  easily  have  waded  out, 
but  this  would  not  be  according  to  the  rules  of 
seamanship  :  so  he  took  a  large  tub,  made  of  the 
half  of  a  hogshead ;  and,  launching  it  overboard, 
he  seized  a  garden-spade  that  was  near,  and,  get- 
ting into  the  tub,  attempted  to  paddle  it  out  to 
the  boat,  upon  which  Ike  was  crying  violently  for 
help.  It  was  hard  work  for  the  captain,  who 
had  sailed  on  a  great  many  far  voyages  in  fore-and- 
aft  vessels,  but  had  never  been  in  a  round-and- 
round  one  before;  for,  when  he  would  try  to  paddle 
on  one  side,  it  would  turn  round  instead  of  going 
ahead,  and  result  the  same  when  he  tried  the  other 


CAPTAIN    BOB    TO    THE    RESCUE.  65 

side.  At  last,  by  putting  his  spade  behind,  and 
prying  his  queer  craft  along,  he  began  to  make 
some  headway  ;  and  after  great  effort  he  reached 
the  wreck,  and  righted  her,  and  Ike  came  ashore 
in  her  a  "shipwrecked  passenger,"  much  to  the 
delight  of  Mrs.  Partington  and  the  assembled 
neighbors.  Ike  made  a  very  dismal  figure,  with 
his  dripping  clothes,  and  eelgrass  in  his  hair ;  and 
Captain  Bob  told  him  to  go  home,  and  hang  him- 
self over  a  clothes-line  to  dry. 

"  I  suppose  you  have  seen  many  men  drown," 
said  one  of  the  lookers-on. 

"Well,  I  can't  say  that  I  have,"  replied  the  cap- 
tain. "  I  forget  how  many  chances  there  is  of  a 
fellow's  'scaping  drownding,  where  there  is  any 
chance  at  all ;  but  'tis  about  the  same  as  'scaping 
being  killed  in  battle,  where  they  say  it  takes 
more'n  a  man's  weight  in  bullets  to  kill  him. 
Once  when  I  was  going  to  the  West  Indies,  one 
of  our  men  fell  overboard,  and  we  thought  he  was 
drownded  sure ;  but  we  found  him,  three  days 
arterwards,  setting  on  the  head  of  the  rudder  ! " 

"  How  came  he  there  ?  " 

"He  took  holt  of  the  rudder-chains  when  he 
drifted  by,  and  lifted  himself  up." 


66  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

"  Why  didn't  he  holler  ?  " 

"  Because  he'd  rather  stay  there  than  work." 

"  But  how  did  he  live  without  eating  ? " 

"  Why,  he'd  climb  into  the  cabin-window  nights, 
and  hook  enough  of  the  captain's  provender  to  last 
all  next  day." 

"But"  — 

"  No  matter  about  any  more,"  said  the  captain  : 
"some  folks  is  made  to  tell  stories,  and  some  is 
made  to  believe  'em,  and  so  the  balance  is  kept 
jist  right;  and  that's  what's  the  matter." 

So  they  asked  no  more  questions. 

Ike  was  put  to  bed  as  soon  as  he  got  home,  and 
went  through  a  severe  course  of  bitter  tea  and 
reproof,  in  order  to  keep  out  the  cold.  The  next 
morning  at  breakfast  Mrs.  Partington  pointed  at 
a  dress  hanging  on  a  line  in  view  of  the  window, 
and  said,  — 

"  Do  you  see  that  garment,  you  offensive  boy  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  said  Ike  very  penitently. 

"  Captain  Roberts  brought  that  to  me  this 
morning,  all  satiated  with  water,  and  said  he  found 
it  in  the  boat.  Now,  what  did  you  take  it  for  ? " 

"Took  it  for  sail." 

"Took  it  for  sale!    I  could  have  sold  it  myself 


THE    DUCKING    BENEFICIAL. 


yesterday  to  a  gentleman  for  a  pair  of  decalico- 
maniac  vases,  but  I  wouldn't." 

"  I  didn't  take  it  to  sell  :  I  took  it  for  a  sail  to 
make  the  boat  go." 

"  Well,  that  is  not  so  harmonious  ;  but  don't 
you  do  it  again." 

Ike  promised  her  that  he  wouldn't,  and  went  to 
school  cheerfully,  receiving  ten  checks  during  the 
day  for  his  exemplary  deportment.  The  ducking 
and  the  fright  had  a  very  beneficial  effect  on  his 
health,  and  enabled  him  to  take  an  active  part  in 
the  Grum  surprise-party,  which  took  place  soon 
after. 


68  IKE    PARTINGTON. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

NEIGHBOR  GRUM'S  SURPRISE-PARTY.  —  BOYS  ON  THE 

GRASS. GRUM    A     PRISONER.  AN     IMPORTANT 

QUESTION. 

THERE  were  great  swimming-matches  on  the 
creek,  in  which  rivalry  ran,  or  swam,  high. 
The  whole' of  the  Rivertown  boys  came  to  the 
creek  to  swim,  where  the  water  at  high  tide  was 
warm  and  nice.  The  county  road  bridged  the 
creek  near  its  head,  forming  a  large  and  deep 
pool ;  and  here,  safe  from  accidents  and  intrusion, 
they  sported  as  free  as  air.  Ike  was  a  famous 
swimmer,  and  seldom  found  any  one  to  excel  him. 
One  day  after  school  a  large  party  of  Rivertown 
boys  started  for  the  creek  to  have  a  swim ;  and, 
when  passing  by  Gram's  place,  they  lingered  a 
moment  to  look  over  the  fence  about  the  patch  of 
green  grass  which  he  prized  so  highly  and  watched 
so  carefully.  He  was  at  his  window  in  an  instant, 
as  they  expected  he  would  be. 


GRUM'S  PEACE  THREATENED.         69 

"  Come,  hurry  along,"  said  he  :  "  don't  stop  here. 
Your  room  is  better  than  your  company." 

"  We  aren't  harming  you,"  replied  one. 

"  Well,  clear  out :  you're  not  wanted  here." 

"  Can't  we  play  on  your  grass  a  little  while  ? " 

"  No,  you  young  scamp  !     Clear  out." 

"  You  needn't  bite  our  heads  off." 

"  My  dog  shall  do  the  biting.  Here,  Towser, 
Towser  !  After  'em,  Towser  !  " 

They  merely  laughed  at  the  cross  old  fellow,  and 
passed  on,  when  Sam  Sides  burst  out  with,  — 

"  Let's  give  him  a  surprise-party  when  we  go 
back." 

"What  do  you  mean  ? "  cried  several  voices. 

"  Why,  he  called  us  scamps,  and  we'll  wipe  the 
insult  out  on  his  grass." 

About  all  of  them  were  ready  for  a  lark,  and 
shouted  approval.  So  it  was  settled,  that,  when 
they  went  back,  they  would  turn  their  jackets, 
swap  hats,  and  pretend  to  be  Indians,  then  jump 
over  on  the  grass,  and  cut  up  all  sorts  of  capers ; 
planning  more,  however,  than  they  could  possibly 
carry  out.  They  had  thought  it  possible  he  might 
rush  out  on  them  suddenly :  but  Ike  told  them  not 
to  fear  about  that, — he'd  fix  it;  and  they  went  in 
swimming  with  this  luxury  in  reserve. 


70  IKE    PARTINGTON. 


Ike  was  a  capital  swimmer.  Like  the  man  out 
West,  he  could  "dive  deeper,  stay  under  water 
longer,  and  come  out  dryer,"  than  any  other  boy, 
—  at  least  he  said  so;  and,  the  tide  in  the  creek 
being  high,  there  was  some  fine  swimming  done, 
which  rivalled  the  exploits  of  any  frog  that  ever 
kicked.  There  were  all  sorts  of  trials,  —  trials  with 
one  another,  trials  against  time,  trials  in  floating, 
trials  in  treading  water,  trials  in  diving,  until  it 
was  proposed  to  try  who  could  stay  under  water 
the  longest.  This  was  eagerly  accepted  by  all  but 
Ike,  who  declared  that  he  had  had  enough  of  it. 
He  was  all  "blowed,"  he  said,  and  didn't  believe  he 
could  stay  under  any  time  at  all.  He  gave  in  at 
last,  very  reluctantly,  and  then  they  prepared  to 
dive. 

There  was  a  flat  stone  just  under  water,  about 
three  rods  from  the  bridge  ;  and  it  was  agreed  that 
the  one  who  went  farthest  beyond  this  should  be 
the  f champion — the  "boss  diver"  —of  River- 
town  and  the  surrounding  territory. 

"You  go  first,  Moody,"  was  the  cry;  and 
Moody,  taking  a  long  breath  to  carry  with  him, 
and  putting  the  palms  of  his  hands  together  over 
his  head  as  if  to  form  a  cutwater,  plunged  in. 


THE    DIVING    TRIAL.  /I 


The  water  was  deep  and  turbid,  rendering  it 
impossible  for  any  one  to  follow  the  track  of  the 
diver;  and  so  the  boys  eagerly  watched  for  the 
coming  up  of  the  submarine  navigator.  They 
had  no  watch  by  which  to  note  the  time  he  was 
under  water  ;  but  Moody  was  a  long-winded  fellow, 
and  staid  under  a  good  while.  At  last  he  arose, 
beyond  the  rock,  blowing  the  salt  water  out  of 
his  mouth,  and  was  received  with  a  great  shout. 

One  after  another  all  tried  it  except  Ike, 
none  of  them  surpassing  Moody  for  endurance  or 
distance.  Most  fell  far  short  of  the  flat  stone, 
and  none  more  than  reached  it.  It  was  surely 
thought  that  Moody  would  be  the  champion,  when 
Ike,  the  last  one,  was  called  upon  to  "go  in  and 
win."  He  was  sitting  upon  the  bridge,  seeing 
the  others,  and,  when  called,  responded  at  once, 
saying,  — 

"It's  no  use  :  Moody's  won  fast  enough." 

"You, must  try  it,"  they  all  cried. 

"  But  s'pose  I  should  hit  bottom,  and  knock  a 
hole  through,  and  go  down  to  China  or  some- 
where :  what'd  you  do  then  ? " 

"Have  you  sent  back  by  telegraph,"  replied 
Sides. 


72  IKE    PARTINGTON. 


"  Well,  I'll  try ;  but  if  I'm  drowned  you  must 
excuse  me  to  Mr.  Grum,  who'll  be  disappointed  if 
I  am  not  at  his  surprise-party." 

"  Go  it,  Ike  !  "  they  all  shouted. 

He  mounted  the  railing  of  the  bridge,  which 
the  others  had  not  done,  and  there  went  through 
the  same  motions  as  the  rest,  elevating  his  hands 
above  his  head  with  the  palms  brought  together, 
and  plunged  swiftly  into  the  water.  The  water 
closed  over  him,  and  all  that  was  to  be  seen  were 
a  few  bubbles  where  he  had  disappeared.  They 
waited  with  the  deepest  interest  to  see  where  he 
would  come  up,  because  they  knew  he  was  the 
only  one  that  could  compete  with  Moody.  Where 
was  he  ?  they  asked  among  themselves  as  he 
failed  to  appear  after  being  under  water  much 
longer  than  Moody ;  and  when  double  Moody's 
time  had  passed,  they  began  to  be  alarmed.  Still 
he  did  not  appear,  and  then  they  were  in  a  panic 
of  excitement.  All  were  in  the  water  now,  swim- 
ming along  the  track  he  must  have  gone,  in  an 
effort  to  find  him,  but  in  vain. 

"  Run  for  Ham  !  "  was  the  general  cry. 

One,  with  only  his  hat  on,  started  off  to  call 
assistance,  but  came  back  to  put  on  some  more 


UNDER    THE    BRIDGE.  73 

clothes.  Others  still  continued  their  search  in 
the  water.  Some  five  minutes  had  now  been 
spent,  when  Mr.  Ham,  who  lived  near  the  creek, 
was  seen  running,  with  an  eel-spear  and  a  coil  of 
rope,  as  if  he  were  going  to  harpoon  the  boy. 
The  greatest  excitement  prevailed ;  and  it  was 
feared  that  Ike  had  indeed  gone  down  to  "  China 
or  somewhere,"  as  he  had  said,  when  a  voice  was 
heard  from  under  the  bridge,  saying,  — 

"  Why  don't  you  search  here  ?  " 

A  dozen  boys  were  overboard  in  an  instant ;  and 
there,  coolly  sitting  in  the  shadow  of  the  bridge, 
was  the  missing  Ike,  grinning  as  if  he  hadn't 
been  giving  them  the  greatest  scare  of  their  lives. 

"  How  did  you  get  in  there  ? "  they  cried  in 
astonishment  and  anger. 

"Well,"  replied  he,  "  when  I  dove  down  I  knew 
that  I  couldn't  beat  Moody  ;  and  so  I  turned 
round  under  water,  and  swam  under  the  bridge. 
Scared,  weren't  you  ?  " 

They  told  him  that  the  next  time  he  played 
such  a  game  as  that  they  would  let  him  go  to 
China,  or  anywhere,  before  they'd  try  as  they  had 
to  save  him  ;  and  Mr.  Ham  told  him  an  original 
story  of  a  boy  who  cried  "  Wolf  "  once  too  often, 


74  *         IKE    PARTINGTON. 

and  got  eaten  up  for  his  deception,  threatening 
him,  if  he  ever  such  a  trick  again,  he  would  bring 
a  horsewhip  instead  of  an  eel-spear. 

The  boys  talked  it  over ;  and,  after  a  little  growl- 
ing, they  decided  that  it  was  a  big  joke,  but  one 
too  serious  to  be  repeated  very  often.  Then  they 
took  up  their  homeward  march,  to  make  the  "  sur- 
prise "  visitation  on  the  way.  They  were  in  high 
glee  about  it. 

It  was  just  on  the  edge  of  the  evening  when 
they  reached  the  Corner,  and  paused  a  bit  to 
make  arrangements.  Ike  told  them  to  wait  there 
while  he  went  forward  to  reconnoitre.  He  saw 
Mr.  Grum,  as  usual,  at  his  window,  and  passed  by 
whistling,  as  if  taking  no  notice  of  him  ;  then  he 
crept  along  in  the  shadow  of  the  house,  and 
placed  a  chip  over  the  latch  of  the  door  which 
opened  out  upon  the  green.  He  then  returned 
by  a  path  across  the  field,  to  where  the  boys  were 
waiting  for  him,  and  told  them  that  he  had  pulled 
all  the  teeth  out  of  Grum's  dog  Towser.  They 
turned  their  jackets,  and  swapped  hats,  and 
were  so  completely  disguised  that  they  scarcely 
knew  themselves,  and  felt  certain  that  Grum 
wouldn't  know  them  ;  and  then  moved  on  very 
still  to  give  him  the  surprise. 


THE    SURPRISE-PARTY. 


75 


There  the  surly  old  man  sat,  in  his  shirt-sleeves, 
not  dreaming  of  what  was  awaiting  him,  when  he 
was  truly  surprised  to  see  a  dozen  boys  on  his 
green  plat,  turning  summersets,  playing  circus, 


rolling  over  on  the  grass,  and  yelling  at  the  top 
of  their  lungs.  He  was  so  astonished  that  he 
could  hardly  move  at  first.  But  they  saw  him 
leave  the  window ;  and  in  a  moment  they  heard 
him  at  the  door,  trying  frantically  to  get  out. 


76  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

The  latch  wouldn't  move.  He  was  a  prisoner  in 
his  own  house.  He  didn't  seem  to  understand  it 
at  first,  but  struggled  and  bumped  and  pushed 
against  the  door,  until  they  heard  him  leave  for 
another  door,  and  then  thought  it  was  time  to 
quit.  They  retreated  in  good  order,  and  Ike  dis- 
appeared into  his  own  door  as  innocent  as  a  lamb. 
Next  day  Grum  made  a  great  fuss  about  the 
affair.  He  knew,  he  said,  that  Ike  was  at  the  bot- 
tom of  it,  but  couldn't  prove  it ;  and  when  he  asked 
Ike  if  he  knew  any  thing  about  it,  all  he  could 
tell  him  was  that  he  saw  a  lot  of  fellows  get  over 
the  fence,  and  heard  'em  holler,  and  waited  to  see 
Mr.  Grum  jump  out  of  his  door  and  catch  'em, 
and  wondered  why  he  didn't !  Mrs.  Partington 
had  marvelled  why  Isaac's  jacket  was  inside  out ; 
but,  remembering  how  Grum  had  served  her  when 
she  applied  to  him  for  help,  she  said  nothing. 
"  \Vc  are  not  stocks  and  stones;"  and  even  Mrs. 
Partington  may  have  felt  enough  of  the  common 
emotion  of  humanity  to  be  a  little  exultant  about 
it,  but  it  is  not  safe  to  say  so.  Grum  then  went 
to  the  school,  and  complained  to  the  teacher,  who 
promised  all  of  them  a  good  rattaning  if  they 
would  confess ;  but  they  strangely  refused,  and 


THE    BASIS    OF    RESPECT.  77 

then  he  gave  them  a  serious  lecture,  in  Grum's 
presence,  on  the  respect  that  the  young  should 
pay  the  old.  When  he  had  finished,  Sim  Walters, 
one  of  the  best  boys  in  the  school,  held  up  his 
hand. 

"  Well,  Walters,  what  is  it  ?  "  asked  the  teacher. 

"  Please,  sir,  may  I  ask  a  question  ? " 

"  Yes." 

"  If  a  man  wishes  to  be  respected,  ought  he  not 
to  be  respectable  ? " 

"That  is,  indeed,  a  question.  What  should  you 
say,  Mr.  Grum  ?  " 

Mr.  Grum  went  out  suddenly,  like  a  Roman 
candle,  firmly  convinced  that  every  boy  in  that 
school  was  a  candidate  for  the  gallows  or  the 
penitentiary. 

A  hint  at  a  moral  may  be  put  in  here  very  brief- 
ly, instead  of  at  the  end,  regarding  a  boy's  respect 
for  superiors.  The  question  put  by  the  boy  gives 
the  condition  of  the  boyish  mind.  He  has  no 
superiors  really,  and  certainly  has  no  respect  for 
what  is  mean.  He  feels  that  he  is  as  good,  as 
wise,  and  respectable,  as  any  one  ;  and  he  acts 
upon  the  Golden  Rule,  as  he  understands  it,  of 


78  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

treating  others  pretty  much  as  they  treat  him. 
He  doesn't  analyze  very  keenly  :  that  is  matter 
for  after  time  and  education.  He  grows  into 
moral  wisdom  as  he  grows  into  his  mature 
clothes  ;  but  while  he  is  a  boy  he  cannot  be  any 
thing  else.  Affections,  morals,  duties,  have  not 
hardened  into  purpose  yet ;  but  they  are  silently 
taking  form  to  be  revealed  in  the  "  sweet  by  and 
by." 


DR.  SPOONER'S  VISIT.  79 


CHAPTER   VII. 

DR.  SPOONER  AT  CLAM  CORNER. SUNDAY  MORN- 
ING.  IKE  SURPRISED. A  BALD  HEAD  DECEP- 
TIVE.  VISIT  ABRUPTLY  CONCLUDED. 

THE  promise  which  Dr.  Spooner  had  made 
at  parting  from  her,  to  visit  Mrs.  Partington 
during  the  summer,  had  not  been  forgotten  ;  and 
so  when  she  received  a  line  from  him,  stating  that 
he  would  come  and  spend  the  next  Sunday  with 
her,  she  was  filled  with  pleasant  anticipations. 
The  note  was  conned  again  and  again,  and  she 
forthwith  busied  herself  to  make  his  visit  agree- 
able. The  best  room  immediately  went  through  a 
process  of  airing ;  and  Ike  was  directed  to  procure 
some  pine-boughs  from  the  woods,  with  such  wild 
flowers  as  he  could  gather,  to  render  it  agreeable 
to  the  refined  taste  of  the  doctor.  Therefore  from 
above  the  colored  wood  engraving  of  the  "  Prod- 
igal Son,"  and  the  black  profile  of  Corporal  Paul, 
waved  sweet-smelling  offerings  of  welcome,  and 


8O  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

the  old-fashioned  fireplace  seemed  almost  suffo- 
cated with  a  plethora  of  green  branches,  with 
golden-rod  and  mullein  blossoms  in  between, 
which  made  the  apartment  very  cheerful. 

On  the  Saturday  after  the  receipt  of  his  letter, 
the  doctor  came  in  on  the  afternoon  stage,  which 
rattled  through  the  quiet  settlement  of  Clam  Cor- 
ner, making  a  great  sensation,  and  saying  to  all  the 
people,  who  were  out  to  see  it,  "  Here  we  are ! " 
with  as  self-satisfied  a  manner  as  any  stage-coach 
could  present.  The  doctor  was  landed  at  Mrs. 
Partington's  door,  with  a  huge  trunk,  a  jointed 
fish-pole,  and  a  gun-case,  which  denoted  intentions 
to  remain  for  some  time ;  and  was  received  in  a 
manner  according  well  with  the  good  dame's  repu- 
tation for  hospitality. 

"  I'm  shore  I  am  glad  to  see  you,"  said  she, 
shaking  him  warmly  by  the  hand,  while  her  specta- 
cles beamed  with  kindly  emotion.  "  I'm  glad  to 
see  you,  because  you  are  one  of  the  kind  that 
come  very  seldom,  and  stay  but  a  little  while." 

"  I  am  very  happy  to  greet  you,"  responded  the 
doctor.  "And  how  is  your  health  and  that  of  the 
boy  ?  —  any  better  for  the  change  ? " 

"  Much  better,  thank  you.     I  have  not  had  the 


THE    MYSTERIOUS    SHOT.  8 1 

embargo  in  my  back  since  I  have  been  here,  and 
Isaac  never  now  complains  of  illness  except  when 
he  is  sick.  Here  he  is." 

Ike  came  in  with  a  grin  on  his  face,  and  Dr. 
Spooner  shook  him  by  the  hand,  saying  some 
pleasant  words  to  him ;  after  which  he  went  out 
again,  leaving  the  doctor  and  Mrs.  Partington  to 
talk  over  matters  of  interest  which  had  transpired 
at  her  old  home  since  she  left,  and  a  very  interest- 
ing season  was  enjoyed.  Their  conversation  was 
interrupted  by  the  report  of  a  gun ;  and  a  cat, 
wild  with  excitement,  dashed  by  the  window  at 
which  they  were  sitting.  Looking  out,  they  saw 
the  head  of  Ike  rise  slowly  above  a  huge  rhubarb- 
plant,  as  if  looking  for  something,  and  then  disap- 
pear, a  slight  vapor  or  smoke  hanging  over  the 
place  he  had  occupied. 

Mrs.  Partington  glanced  at  the  doctor ;  and  the 
doctor,  very  red  in  the  face,  glanced  at  Mrs.  Par- 
tington, and  then  went  out  in  the  direction  of 
the  head  he  had  seen.  The  head,  however,  had 
disappeared ;  and  the  doctor  looked  in  many  direc- 
tions to  discover  the  lad,  returning  to  the  house 
soon  after.  He  saw  his  gun-case  behind  the  door, 
where  he  had  left  it,  but  did  not  open  it ;  and, 
when  Ike  came  in,  Mrs.  Partington  said,  — 


82  IKE   PARTINGTON. 

"  Isaac,  did  you  hear  that  gun  ? " 

"Yes'm." 

"Who  fired  it?" 

"  Guess  'twas  somebody  firing  at  a  cat." 

Dr.  Spooner  looked  at  him  steadily  over  his 
glasses,  but  expressed  no  opinion  ;  while  Mrs.  Par- 
tington,  thinking  of  nothing  in  particular,  tapped 
her  snuff-box  in  silence.  Ike  was  a  well-mannered 
boy,  and  sat  down,  saying  nothing,  but  how  much 
he  thought  of  that  fishing-rod  and  gun  standing 
out  there  behind  the  entry-door ! 

When  Dr.  Spooner  retired  to  his  room,  which 
Mrs.  Partington  trusted  might  be  "  congealing "  to 
his  taste,  and  had  bid  him  good-night,  he  took 
the  gun  from  its  case,  which  he  had  carried  up 
with  him ;  and  there  was  evidence  of  burnt  powder 
about  the  nipple,  from  which  he  drew  his  own  con- 
clusions. His  sleep  was  not  very  refreshing.  The 
heat  was  great,  the  strange  location  worried  him ; 
and  his  first  nap  was  broken  by  a  dream  that  it 
was  the  Fourth  of  July,  and  that  Ike  stood  by  his 
ear  blowing  a  villanous  fish-horn,  when,  starting 
up,  he  heard  a  dozen  mosquitoes  in  full  blast,  which 
had  been  holding  a  banquet  upon  his  face  as  he 
slept.  He  worried  through  the  night,  however; 


THE   DOCTOR   BATHES.  83 

and  at  early  daylight  he  got  up  softly,  and  went 
out  for  a  walk,  and  a  bath  in  the  creek.  The  doc- 
tor was  bald  as  a  plate,  though  few  suspected  it ; 
and,  putting  his  wig  in  his  coat-pocket,  he  was 
refreshed  by  the  morning  air  which  drew  through 
the  port-holes  of  his  perforated  straw  hat. 

There  was  a  fringe  of  willow-trees  by  the  side 
of  the  creek  at  Sherburn's  Wharf,  a  little  distance 
beyond  the  Partington  residence,  a  cool  retreat 
in  summer;  and  here,  where  a  good  opportunity 
for  bathing  presented  itself,  secluded  from  prying 
eyes,  the  doctor  returned  for  a  quiet  swim,  after  a 
mile  walk  on  the  road  which  led  out  to  the  woods. 
It  was  Sunday  morning,  and  he  knew  that  he 
should  be  free  from  intrusion :  therefore,  after  a 
few  moments  rest,  he  prepared  for  his  plunge. 

As  ill  luck  would  have  it,  that  very  morning  Ike 
had  also  arisen  quite  early  to  drive  a  cow  to  pas- 
ture, as  an  accommodation  to  a  friend ;  and,  hav- 
ing secured  his  four-footed  charge  inside  of  the 
"bars,"  he  started  to  return  home.  He  was  not 
in  much  of  a  hurry.  There  were  chipmunks  run- 
ning along  the  stone  walls  which  he  was  bound 
to  stone,  a  mud-turtle  to  catch  in  a  wayside  pud- 
dle, and  raspberries  .tempting  him  on  every  hand, 


84 


IKE    PARTINGTON. 


until  his  returning  steps  brought  him  to  the 
vicinity  of  the  willows,  where  he  heard  the  water 
splashing  furiously,  as  though  a  leviathan  were 
sporting  there. 


Ike  crept  along  softly  until  he  found  a  place 
where  he  could  look  through  the  leaves  without 
being  seen,  and  beheld  the  doctor's  head,  divested 
of  his  wig,  which  shone  in  the  sun  like  a  geo- 


THE    BALD    TARGET.  85 

graphical  globe,  greatly  exciting  his  curiosity. 
The  bald  head  deceived  him,  and  he  failed  to 
know  his  guest  as  he  swam  around  there  bare- 
headed. The  tide  was  up,  the  water  clear  and 
cool,  and  the  doctor,  being  a  good  swimmer,  was 
enjoying  himself  hugely,  when  a  small  pebble 
chucked  into  the  water  not  far  from  him.  He  did 
not  mind  it,  but  kept  on  swimming,  when  another 
chucked  into  the  water,  which  he  likewise  failed 
to  note,  enjoying  himself  as  he  was.  A  brief  time 
elapsed,  when  another  pebble,  better  directed, 
alighted  on  the  top  of  the  doctor's  dome,  and 
brought  his  swimming  to  a  close.  He  put  his 
hand  upon  his  head,  and  shouted,  "Hi,  THERE!" 
feeling,  as  it  seemed,  a  little  hurt  in  his  feelings. 

Ike  recognized  the  voice,  and  started  in  great 
haste  across  the  fields,  towards  home,  where  he 
soon  arrived,  and  sat  down  with  the  most  undis- 
turbed composure  to  await  the  doctor's  return. 
He  was  a  little  anxious  to  see  what  would  come  of 
it,  but  had  no  twinges  of  conscience ;  for  he  justi- 
field  what  he  had  done  on  the  ground  that  he 
didn't  know  the  doctor  without  his  wig,  and  his 
hurry  to  leave  was  not  from  a  consciousness  of 
guilt,  but  merely  from  a  desire  to  get  away  with- 
out being  seen. 


86  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

The  doctor  came  in  soon  after,  his  face  wearing 
a  troubled  expression ;  and  Mrs.  Partington  smil- 
ingly asked  if  he  had  been  taking  his  "morning 
oblations  "  in  the  creek.  He  told  her  that  he  had, 
and  had  found  them  the  most  striking  of  any 
which  he  had  ever  experienced.  He  looked  at 
Ike  as  he  spoke,  who  was  at  that  instant  gazing 
curiously  at  the  wig,  with  a  half  smile  around  his 
mouth.  The  doctor  was  rather  sensitive  regarding 
his  wig;  and,  fearing  lest  a  severe  inquiry  about 
the  pebble  might  lead  to  revelations  he  did  not 
choose  to  make,  he  said  no  more  upon  the  subject. 

The  next  morning  at  breakfast  the  doctor  told 
Mrs.  Partington  that  he  should  be  compelled  to 
leave  her  hospitable  roof  immediately,  as  he  was 
on  a  scientific  errand,  and  should  have  to  tear  him- 
self away.  She  was  very  much  surprised,  and 
tried  to  change  his  purpose,  but  he  was  firm  as 
bricks. 

"  What  is  calling  you  away  ? "  she  asked. 

"Why  you  see,  madam,  we  physicians  are 
always  studying  how  we  can  best  serve  human 
needs ;  and,  as  vaccine-matter  is  very  scarce  now, 
I  am  going  down  to  the  seashore  to  obtain,  if 
possible,  some  of  the  virus  of  a  sea-cow  for  the 
purposes  of  our  profession." 


"  Well,  I  am  sorry  to  have  you  go,  but  hope  you 
have  enjoyed  yourself." 

"  Most  decidedly,  madam :  but  there  are  some 
kinds  of  enjoyment  that  are  better  through  anti- 
cipation, and  some  through  memory,  than  the 
experience  itself ;  and  this  has  been  one  of  the 
latter  description." 

"  I  am  very  glad  to  hear  it,  and  hope  you  will 
never  forget  your  visit  to  the  Corner." 

"  Depend  upon  it,  I  never  shall." 

The  doctor  bade  her  farewell,  and  departed,  with 
his  gun-case  on  his  shoulder  and  his  fishing-rod 
for  a  cane ;  and  when  arrived  at  the  hotel  in  River- 
town,  he  sent  a  carriage  for  his  trunk,  and  booked 
his  name  for  a  week.  He  thought,  that,  by  pursu- 
ing this  indignant  course,  the  boy  might  be  led 
to  repent  of  the  wrong  done  him,  and  suffer  the 
stings  of  an  accusing  conscience.  In  the  same 
spirit  we  have  seen  a  man  cut  down  a  favorite 
tree  or  vine,  which  the  boys  had  robbed  the  year 
previous,  that  the  offenders  might  blush  with 
shame  at  the  havoc  of  which  they  had  been  the 
cause ;  but  did  anybody  ever  know  of  an  instance 
where  remorse  or  shame  followed  the  act  of  cut- 
ting down  a  tree  under  the  circumstances  named  ? 


88  IKE   PARTINGTON. 


Ike  was  sorry,  nevertheless,  as  he  sat  and 
thought  about  the  doctor's  "going  off  mad."  A 
deep  and  sincere  feeling  of  regret  pervaded  his 
mind  as  he  recalled  the  fishing-pole,  and  remem- 
bered that  he  had  not,  in  the  brief  time,  had  a 
chance  to  use  it. 


THE    FARM    IN    VACATION.  89 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

IKE     AND     SIM      AT     THE     FARM. THE      DROWNED 

WOODCHUCK.  THE      HORNET'S      NEST. UNCLE 

TRACY    IN    TROUBLE. 

SIM  WALTERS  had  an  uncle  that  lived  a 
few  miles  up  the  big  river;  and  Sim  had 
invited  Ike  to  spend  a  week  with  him  at  his 
uncle  Tracy's  farm  in  haying-time,  assuring  him  a 
hearty  welcome,  especially  from  his  aunt  Martha 
and  cousin  Bill.  Mrs.  Partington  was  unwilling 
that  he  should  go  among  strangers  on  such  an 
invitation  as  this ;  and  Sim  wrote  to  his  aunt 
Martha  to  know  if  it  would  be  agreeable  to  have 
them  come.  The  answer  being  very  favorable, 
the  boys,  shortly  after  vacation  began,  went  on 
their  visit. 

The  farm  was  near  the  river,  and  they  went  by 
a  packet  which  carried  freight  from  Rivertown  to 
places  on  the  stream. 

They  found  Bill  waiting  for  them  at  the  land- 


IKE   PARTINGTON. 


ing.  He  was  very  glad  to  see  them,  and  escorted 
them  up  to  the  house.  Uncle  Tracy  was  out  in 
the  field ;  but  Aunt  Martha  received  them  very 
kindly,  and  said  she  hoped  they  would  enjoy  them- 
selves. They  said  they  thought  they  should  ;  and, 
after  .eating  a  half-dozen  doughnuts  and  drinking  a 
pint  of  milk  apiece,  they  walked  out  to  look  over 
the  place. 

The  house  was  an  old-fashioned  weather-stained 
affair,  large  and  comfortable,  with  a  green  lawn  in 
front  of  it,  shaded  by  grand  elm-trees.  This  was 
enclosed  by  a  fence ;  and  outside  of  the  fence 
was  the  barnyard,  where  the  turkeys  and  fowls 
ran  about  with  great  freedom.  One  large  white 
rooster  attracted  Ike's  attention ;  but  the  bird 
seemed  suspicious  of  the  stranger,  and  would 
have  nothing  to  do  with  him.  He  strutted  off 
with  lordly  pride  when  advances  were  made  to 
him,  and  called  all  the  hens  around  him  as.  if  to 
tell  them  to  look  out  for  that  little  chap  under  the 
straw  hat.  There  were  portly  pigs  in  their  pens, 
looking  fat  and  comfortable,  and  multitudes  of 
geese  and  ducks,  that  flocked  noisily  around  a 
trough  in  the  corner  of  the  yard,  where  a  tall 
well-sweep  was  used  to  draw  water  with. 


THE   WELL-SWEEP.  91 

Ike  had  never  seen  a  well  of  this  kind  before, 
and  he  looked  at  it  with  much  curiosity.  The 
"sweep"  was  a  long  and  heavy  pole,  suspended 
at  the  middle  from -the  top  of  a  tall  crotched  post, 
the  well-pole  hanging  from  the  small  end  of  it, 
which  was  up  in  the  air,  the  other  end  hav- 
ing a  weight  attached  to  it  which  bore  it  down 
to  the  ground.  He  looked  into  the  well,  and  saw 
the  empty  bucket  hanging  there  close  by  the  top. 
Sim  knew  all  about  it,  but  thought  he  would  let 
Ike  find  out  how  it  worked  for  himself.  Ike  knew 
that  somehow  the  pole  was  made  to  draw  up  the 
water,  but  he  did  not  see  into  it  at  once ;  so  he 
went  to  the  part  which  had  the  weight  on  it,  and 
tried  to  make  it  work  that  way  by  lifting  it  up. 
This  he  saw  wouldn't  do  at  all,  and  Sim  clapped 
his  hands  for  fun  to  see  him  try.  Ike  then  took 
hold  of  the  pole,  and  tried  to  pull  it  down.  It 
came  down  readily:  the  bucket  went  into  the 
well  as  the  heavy  end  of  the  sweep  rose  into 
the  air;  and  in  a  few  moments  Ike  drew  up  a 
bucket  of  cool  water,  shouting  his  triumph,  and 
slopping  some  of  the  water  over  Sim.  Bill  came 
along  just  then ;  and  Sim  told  him  how  Ike  had 
tried  to  draw  water  by  lifting  the  heavy  end  of 


Q2  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

the  sweep,  and  they  both  laughed.  But  Ike  bore 
it  good-naturedly ;  and  then  Uncle  Tracy  came  into 
the  yard,  looking  very  seedy  and  very  tired,  said, 
"How  d'e  do?"  to  Ike  and  Sim,  and  went  into 
the  house.  The  boys  soon  followed  him ;  and  such 
a  nice  supper  as  Aunt  Martha  had  prepared  for 
them  Ike  thought  he  had  never  tasted.  After  this 
Bill  and  the  boys  went  out  to  milking;  that  is, 
Bill  milked  while  Sim  and  Ike  sat  on  the  cow- 
yard  fence,  and  Ike  made  friends  with  the  cow 
by  holding  out  to  her  a  handful  of  grass  which 
she  reached  out  to  take,  and  came  nigh  tipping 
the  pail  over  by  doing  so. 

They  all  went  to  bed  early,  and  Ike  and  Sim 
slept  together.  They  did  not  wake  up  till  late 
the  next  morning,  and  heard  Bill,  away  down  in 
the  field,  driving  some  cattle  out  of  the  corn. 
The  robins  were  singing  in  the  trees ;  and  the 
white  crower,  on  a  cart  before  their  window,  gave 
a  crow  which  seemed  to  say,  "  Who-the-plague-are- 
you?"  They  could  see  from  their  window  for 
miles  up  and  down  the  river.  The  morning  sun 
was  shining  brightly,  and  fishermen  were  already 
out  in  their  boats  trying  for  fish. 

"I  forgot  to  bring  some  fishing-lines,"  said  Ike. 


INDUSTRIOUS    RESOLUTION.  93 

"  No  matter  :  Bill's  got  lots  of  'em,"  responded 
Sim.  "  See  there  !  that  man  in  the  boat  is  pulling 
one  in." 

Sure  enough,  he  drew  in  what  seemed  to  be  a 
fine  large  fish  ;  and  the  boys  watched  him  with 
intense  interest,  seeing  him  catch  several. 

"  My  gracious !  wouldn't  I  like  to  be  there ! " 
cried  Ike. 

"Well,"  said  Sim,  "we  shall  have  chance 
enough  to  try  it ;  but  we  must  try  a  little  farm- 
ing first.  'Tis  jolly,  hayin'g,  you  bet." 

So  they  went  down  stairs,  where  Aunt  Martha 
had  a  fine  breakfast  waiting  for  them,  and  who 
told  them  that  Uncle  Tracy  and  Bill  had  eaten 
theirs,  and  had  gone  down  to  the  mowing-field 
long  before.  They  felt  ashamed  of  being  so  late, 
and  said  they  would  get  up  as  early  as  Bill  did 
while  they  were  there.  They  were  going  to  be 
real  farmers,  they  said,  and  make  hay,  and  hoe 
corn,  and  do  every  thing  that  the  others  did. 
But  people  are  very  apt  to  promise  more  than  they 
are  likely  to  perform ;  and  the  resolution  of  two 
small  boys  at  the  breakfast-table,  in  broad  sunlight, 
was  different  from  that  of  the  same  boys  next 
day,  when  called  by  Bill  at  the  dawning,  and 


94  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

told  to  get  up  and  milk  the  turkeys,  and  drive  the 
hens  to  pasture.  It  was  pretty  hard  to  get  up 
before  it  was  light  enough  to  see  the  beauty  of  a 
farmer's  life,  and  so  they  failed  to  "  see  it ; "  but 
they  dressed  themselves,  and  were  proud  to  hear 
Uncle  Tracy  say  they  were  "smart  boys."  Ike 
shivered  in  the  morning  air ;  and,  when  Bill  laughed 
at  him,  he  sung,  — 

'VTo  plough  and  to  sow,  and  to  reap  and  to  mow, 
And  to  be  a  farmer's  boy,  oy,  oy, 
And  to  be  a  farmer's  boy." 

"  Bully  for  you  !  "  cried  Bill ;  and  Uncle  Tracy 
quietly  laughed  as  Ike  took  up  a  stone,  and  threw 
it  at  a  little  chipmunk  that  sat  on  the  wall. 

And  very  good  farmers  the  boys  made  for  a  day 
or  two.  They  drove  the  horses  in  the  horse-rakes, 
raked  after  the  load,  pitched  on  the  hay,  and 
deemed  that  it  was  really  fine  fun  ;  but  the  thought 
would  come  up  that  there  were  thousands  of  fish 
waiting  out  there  in  the  river  to  be  caught,  and 
that  all  this  time  was  fruitlessly  spent :  therefore 
it  grew  irksome,  and  they  were  not  so  chipper  as 
they  had  been. 

On  the  third  day,  right  in  the  midst  of  making 


DROWNING   HIM    OUT.  95 

a  load  of  hay,  they  saw  a  woodchuck  making  for 
his  hole ;  and  both  of  the  boys  dropped  their  forks, 
and  ran  for  him.  Of  course  he  had  disappeared 
before  they  reached  him,  but  they  knew  he  was 
there.  Rover,  an  old  dog  belonging  to  one  of  the 
haymakers,  also  took  an  interest  in  the  animal, 
and  began  to  paw  away  the  dirt  at  the  mouth  of 
the  hole ;  but  the  boys  drove  him  aside,  and  began 
a  noisy  debate  as  to  how  they  should  get  the  wood- 
chuck  out.  Sim  was  for  digging  down  to  him ; 
but  Ike's  suggestion  to  drown  him  out,  yelled  in  a 
louder  key,  was  adopted. 

But  what  should  they  bring  water  in  from  the 
spring  down  in  the  valley  ?  Lucky  thought ! 
There  was  a  large  tin  pail  over  in  the  shadow  of 
the  wall,  in  which  the  men  had  brought  some 
"switchel," —  a  drink  made  of  water,  molasses, 
ginger,  and  a  little  old  cider-vinegar;  and  they 
would  get  this  for  the  purpose.  There  was  some 
left  when  Ike  went  for  it;  and,  in  the  haste 
and  excitement  of  the  moment,  he  drank  what  he 
could,  and  spilled  the  rest  on  the  ground,  making 
off  with  the  pail.  The  spring  was  several  rods 
away ;  and,  hurrying  to  it,  they  filled  the  first  pail, 
leaving  Rover  to  watch  the  animal.  Up  they  came 


96 


IKE    PARTINGTON. 


with  the  water,  and  dashed  it  into  the  hole,  expect- 
ing him  to  come  out ;  but  he  didn't  come  worth  a 
cent.  Then  they  went  for  more  water,  which  they 
dashed  into  the  hole  as  before ;  but  still  he  didn't 
budge.  Rover  had  grown  very  unconcerned,  and 


lay  there  with  his  head  on  his  paws,  and  his  eyes 
half  shut,  except  as  a  little  of  the  water  fell  on 
him,  when  he  moved  to  a  greater  distance. 
Bucket  after  bucket  of  water  did  they  bring  to 
drown  out  the  woodchuck,  but  he  made  no  sign. 


NEST   OF    YELLOW-JACKETS. 


"  Guess  he's  got  a  life-preserver  on,"  said  Ike. 

"  All  Rapid  River  couldn't  drown  him,"  echoed 
Sim. 

They  were  vexed  enough  when  they  found  that 
they  had  had  all  their  "  labor  for  their  pains  ;  "  and 
probably  at  that  very  moment  the  woodchuck  was 
away,  by  the  back-door  of  his  house,  high  and 
dry,  and  laughing,  as  perhaps  a  woodchuck  can,  at 
their  effort  to  drown  him  out.  Rover  could  have 
told  them  better  how  to  manage  it. 

They  replaced  the  pail,  leaving  the  men  to  won- 
der at  the  sudden  evaporation  of  the  "  switchel  ;  " 
and  then,  taking  their  forks,  they  commenced  to 
help  turn  over  the  hay.  The  two  boys  kept  to- 
gether; and,  nearing  a  little  clump  of  trees,  they 
saw  a  hornet's  nest,  as  big  as  a  hat,  near  the 
ground  in  a  small  bush. 

"  Hallo  !  "  cried  Ike,  "  see  there  !  " 

"  I  see  it  ;  real  yellow-jackets,"  said  Sim. 

"What's  to  be  done?" 

"  Stick  a  fork  into  it,  and  push  for  the  bushes." 

Sim  led  the  way  on  the  retreat  ;  and  Ike,  after 
seeing  the  course  clear  to  run,  stuck  his  fork  into 
the  nest,  leaving  it  there  ;  and  out  the  hornets 
poured  by  hundreds.  He  plunged  with  Sim  into 


98  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

the  thick  bush,  and  they  saw  the  enraged  insects 
flying  over  them,  and  round  about  them,  as  if 
they  suspected  the  boys  were  hidden  there;  but 
none  came  in  to  find  out,  and  after  a  while  they 
all  went  back,  probably  to  see  what  damage  had 
been  done  to  their  home ;  and  the  boys  came  out, 
and  went  up  to  where  they  were  making  up  the 
last  load  for  the  barn. 

"You  go  on  with  the  load,  boys,"  said  Uncle 
Tracy,  "and  I  will  pick  up  the  tools." 

"  There's  a  fork  a  little  way  down  in  the  field 
there,"  said  Ike,  —  "down  there  by  that  little 
bunch  of  trees." 

"  I  see  it ;  all  right,"  and  Uncle  Tracy  went  in 
that  direction. 

The  load  driven  by  one  of  the  hired  men,  with 
Bill  and  Sim  and  Ike  on  top,  had  reached  a  little 
hill  that  overlooked  the  field,  when  they  saw 
Uncle  Tracy  cutting  frantic  capers  all  alone 
by  himself.  He  brandished  a  fork  in  one  hand, 
and  his  hat  in  the  other,  swinging  them  round 
like  the  sails  to  a  windmill.  He  would  run  a  few 
steps,  and  stop,  going  through  the  motion  of  bran- 
dishing the  fork  and  hat,  till  at  last  he  threw 
away  the  fork,  and  ran  for  dear  life,  swinging 


UNREASONABLENESS    OF    HORNETS.  99 

round  his  hat  like  a  crazy  politician  on  election- 
night.  At  last  he  stopped.  Soon  after  he  came 
plodding  after  the  team,  with  his  face  red  from 
heat  or  anger ;  and,  in  reply  to  the  questions 
which  they  anxiously  asked  as  to  what  was  the 
matter,  he  merely  said,  — 

"  Hornets,  confound  'em  !  " 

"Where  are  the  tools,  father?"  asked  Bill. 

"  Oh !  I  thought  I'd  let  'em  stay :  we  shall  want 
'em  again  to-morrow." 

"  Did  the  hornets  bite  ? "  asked  Ike. 

"Well,  they  would  if  I'd  ha'  let  'em;  and  I 
wish  they'd  ha'  tried  their  teeth  on  the  one  that 
left  that  fork  in  the  hornets'  nest." 

Ike  made  no  more  remark,  to  avoid  unpleasant- 
ness :  but  when  they  got  home  they  found  that 
Uncle  Tracy's  nose  had  swelled  up  as  big  as  a 
rutabaga,  a  hornet  having  stung  him  there;  and 
he  looked  just  like  a  member  of  the  Antiques  and 
Horribles  which  Ike  had  seen  the  last  summer,  as 
he  told  Sim  in  a  whisper.  Of  course  Ike  was 
very  sorry  that  he  had  got  the  good  man  into  such 
trouble ;  but  how  could  he  know  that  the  hornets 
were  so  unreasonable  as  to  attack  one  who  hadn't 
harmed  them  ?  though  he  said  nothing  about  it. 


IOO  IKE    PARTINGTON. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

GOING    FISHING.  COMMODORE    HUNTRESS.  THE 

COMMODORE   ON    DEEP-WATER   FISHING. "GAFT 

HIM,  WILLIAM." IKE    CAUGHT   BY  A   FISH-HOOK. 

WORK   OF    HIGH    ART.   PATRIOTIC     ROOSTER. 

IKE   AT   THE    CHURN-DASHER. UNCLE   TRACY 

SON-STRUCK. 

THE  next  day  was  lowery,  with  fine  rain,  and 
Bill  said  they  would  all  go  fishing.  Ike  and 
Sim  received  the  information  with  great  joy,  dan- 
cing up  and  down,  and  slapping  each  other  on  the 
back. 

"Where  are  your  lines  ? " 

"  What  are  you  going  to  do  for  bait  ? " 

"  Where's  the  boat  ? " 

These  were  the  questions  asked  ;  and  Bill  soon 
appeared  with  a  basket  and  some  lines,  telling 
them  the  basket  was  for  the  clams  which  they 
were  to  dig  down  by  the  shore  ;  and  the  boat  they 
would  have  to  borrow  from  Commodore  Huntress, 


THE  COMMODORE'S  FARM.  l-»JPQf, 

below  the  bank  at  the  landing.  Taking  their  hoes 
to  dig  with,  they  went  to  the  shore,  which,  it 
being  low  tide,  was  bare,  and  they  soon  dug 
plenty  of  clams  for  bait.  They  then  went  to  the 
landing,  where  they  saw  the  bluff  old  commodore, 
who  told  them  that  he  was  just  going  out  in  his 
boat  himself,  and  that  they  might  go  with  him. 
This  pleased  them  exactly  ;  and  soon  they  launched 
the  boat,  which  the  commodore  rowed  out  into 
the  stream  to  a  place  where  he  knew  there  were 
millions  of  fish. 

He  called  this  place  his  garden,  and  the  whole 
river  was  his  farm.  He  took  his  early  perch,  he 
said,  from  the  bed  on  which  they  were  then  about 
to  fish  (speaking  of  them  as  if  they  were  early 
pease)  ;  there  was  a  patch  of  splendid  cod  when 
the  season  was  colder ;  and  beyond  them,  farther 
in  shore,  he  had  a  crop  of  the  finest  flounders  and 
eels  that  ever  were  raised. 

They  baited  their  hooks,  and  threw  over  their 
lines,  after  they  had  dropped  anchor;  and  they  did 
not  have  to  wait  a  minute  before  the  fish  began  to 
bite.  Ike  was  in  excellent  luck,  and  caught  the 
first  fish,  —  a  large  perch, — whereat  he  was  much 
delighted,  the  commodore  saying  that  he  had 


PARTINGTON. 


never  seen  a  fish  "pulled  in  handsomer."  The 
others  had  bites ;  but  the  fish  took  their  bait  off, 
and  Ike  had  four  in  the  boat  before  either  of  the 
others  had  caught  one.  Then  they  all  took  them 
in  pretty  fast,  and  were  highly  excited  by  the  sport. 

The  day 
was  just 
right  for 
fishing,  and 
they  had 
caught  al- 
most a  bas- 
ket-full be- 
fore they 
knew  it.  Ike 

said  he  thought  this  was 
the   best   part  of   a  farmer's 
life,  and  that  haying  couldn't  hold 
a  candle  to  it. 

"  This  is  nothing  to  deep-sea  fishing,"  said  the 
commodore. 

"  You've  done  lots  of  that !  "  responded  Bill. 
"  Guess  I  have  !  "  continued  the  ancient  mariner, 
looking  very  knowing. 

"  Tell   us   about  it,"  cried    Ike   and   Sim   in   a 
breath. 


HOOKED    A    WHOPPER.  1 03 

"You  should  have  been  with  me,"  he  said,  "one 
night  off  Ragged  Ledge,  where  my  brother  Wil- 
liam and  I  went  to  fish  for  hake." 

"  By  night  ?  "  queried  Sim. 

"  Yes  :  night's  the  time  to  catch  hake  ;  they  are 
your  reg'lar  night  tramps.  Well,  we  had  pretty 
good  luck,  and  had  caught  about  as  many  as  we 
wanted,  when,  as  I  jerked  my  line  at  a  bite,  I 
found  I  had  got  something  on  about  as  heavy  as 
an  ox.  Gracious,  how  it  pulled  !  I  knowed  it 
couldn't  be  a  hake,  of  course ;  but  what  it  was 
puzzled  me.  Says  I,  'William,  I've  got  a  whopper 
on  here,  and  that's  a  fact.'  I  didn't  ask  him  to 
help  me  pull  him  in ;  for  I  wasn't  going  to  be  beat 
by  any  fish  that  floated,  'less  it  might  be  a  whale, 
and  so  I  pulled  away.  Whatever  it  was,  it  jerked 
the  boat  round  as  if  'twere  paper,  and  I  didn't 
know  but  it  might  capsize  us ;  but  I  held  on  and 
pulled,  the  line  cutting  into  my  hands  like  a  knife. 
I  found,  after  a  while,  'twas  growing  weaker,  and 
soon  I  got  it  on  top  of  the  water.  There's  a 
revolving  light  on  the  ledge,  and  just  then  the 
light  turned  round,  and  flashed  on  the  water,  so 't 
I  could  see  what  I  had  on  to  my  line ;  but  I 
couldn't  make  head  nor  tail  of  it.  Leastwise  I 


IO4  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

couldn't  make  any  head  of  it ;  and,  when  the  light 
went,  I  was  jest  as  much  in  the  dark  as  I  was 
when  the  fish  was  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea. 
Then,  says  I,  seein't  I  couldn't  get  it  in  alone, 
1  William,  bring  a  gaft.'  So  he  brought  the  gaft, 
and  tried  to  hook  the  critter  by  the  gills,  but 
there  didn't  seem  to  be  no  gills.  Says  I,  '  Good 
gracious,  William  1  why  don't  you  gaft  him  ? ' 
Then  William  says,  says  he,  *  I  can't  find  no  place 
to  hitch  on  to.'  But  he  giv'  a  quick  jerk,  and  had 
him.  We  pulled  him  in.  That's  the  biggest 
that's  been  caught  yet,"  said  he,  diverted  from  his 
big  fish-story  as  Ike  drew  a  pound  perch  into  the 
boat.  "  That's  a  reg'lar  sockdolager." 

"  But  what  about  the  fish  you  was  catching  ? " 
said  Sim. 

"  Oh,  yes  !  well,  William  got  the  gaft  hold  of 
the  critter,  and  we  pulled  him  in,  —  as  much  as  we 
could  do,  though,  —  and  found  'twas  a  halibut  that 
weighed  two  hundred  pounds,  hooked  right 
through  the  tail !  " 

There  was  a  sharp  cry  of  pain  from  Ike,  who, 
as  if  showing  his  appreciation  of  the  point  of  the 
commodore's  story,  had  forced  the  point  of  a 
perch-hook  right  into  the  thick  part  of  his  thumb. 


ROUGH    SURGERY. 


He  was  caught  completely,  and  could  not  get  the 
hook  out.  He  made  a  good  deal  more  fuss  about 
it  than  the  poor  fish  did  that  he  had  just  pulled  in  ; 
and  Sim  unfeelingly  said  that  he  now  knew  how 
it  was  himself.  But  the  commodore  comforted 
him  by  telling  him  he  would  take  it  out  when  he 
got  on  shore,  and  congratulated  him  that  it  had 
not  been  a  halibut-hook.  He  cut  the  line  close  to 
the  hook  ;  and  then,  Bill  and  Sim  having  pulled  up 
the  anchor,  he  rowed  the  boat  ashore. 

"  Now,  boys,"  said  the  commodore,  rummaging 
in  an  old  chest,  and  taking  out  a  pair  of  cutting 
nippers,  "  I'll  show  you  how  to  take  a  hook  out,  in 
case  any  of  ye  ever  get  caught  so  again." 

"Will  it  hurt?"  said  Ike. 

"  P'raps  it  may  a  little,"  replied  the  commodore  ; 
"but  that'll  be  better'n  allers  carryin'  a  hook 
round  with  you,  won't  it?  " 

After  a  little  shiver  of  fear,  the  thumb  was  held 
out,  when  the  salt-water  surgeon  cut  off  the  top 
of  the  hook  with  his  nippers,  and  then,  holding 
the  thumb  so  very  hard  in  his  grip  that  he  fairly 
benumbed  it,  he  forced  the  barb  through  the  flesh, 
and  drew  it  out.  The  pain  lasted  but  a  moment, 
the  blood  flowed  a  little,  and  the  boy  was  happy. 


IO6  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

" There,"  said  the  commodore,  "that's  the  way 
to  do  it ;  and  every  boy  that  goes  a-fishing  should 
know  how  to  manage  in  sich  a  'mergency." 

Ike  thanked  him  ;  but  the  thumb  was  sore,  and 
he  allowed  the  other  boys  to  divide  the  fish  with 
the  old  fisherman,  while  he  went  on  before  to  the 
house,  to  enlist  the  sympathy  of  Aunt  Martha, 
which  was  fully  given  him,  with  a  poultice  of  white 
bread  and  milk  to  keep  out  the  inflammation. 

Next  day  the  finger  was  too  sore  to  admit  of  his 
going  out  to  engage  in  farming,  and  Sim  remained 
at  home  to  keep  him  company.  Of  course  they 
could  not  confine  themselves  to  the  house,  and  so 
they  went  out  to  explore  the  barnyard  and  the 
outbuildings.  Every  box  was  opened,  every  nook, 
high  and  low,  searched,  with  the  spirit  of  curiosity 
which  inspires  the  universal  boy.  Things  long 
forgotten  were  brought  to  light ;  and  from  a  box 
in  the  corn-chamber  was  taken  some  red  and  blue 
coloring  matter  with  which  Uncle  Tracy  had  in 
former  years  marked  his  sheep.  It  was  a  powder ; 
and,  on  mixing  it  with  water,  the  boys  found  that 
it  made  a  very  good  paint.  After  experimenting 
with  both  kinds,  upon  wheels  and  cart-bodies, 
barn-doors  and  fences,  a  happy  thought  struck 
Ike. 


AN    EMBLEMATIC    ROOSTER.  IO/ 

"  Let's  paint  the  old  crower,"  he  said. 

"  Done,"  responded  Sim,  laughing  at  the  idea. 

The  old  cock  was  pacing  grandly  up  and  down, 
looking  at  them  suspiciously  as  they  came  to  this 
conclusion ;  but,  failing  to  guess  precisely  what 
they  were  driving  at,  he  did  not  try  to  get  out  of 
the  way,  and  in  a  moment  was  a  prisoner.  He 
made  a  fierce  remonstrance,  and  his  family  of 
hens  ran  screaming  away,  as  the  boys  carried  him 
into  the  woodshed,  where  the  paints  were  all 
ready  for  the  artistic  decoration. 

"  Shall  we  paint  him  all  over  ? "  said  Sim. 

"  No,"  replied  Ike:  "we'll  paint  one  wing  red 
and  the  other  blue,  and  make  a  Hail  Columbia  bird 
of  him  —  red,  white,  and  blue,  you  see." 

"All  right:  go  ahead." 

"  You  paint  one  wing,  and  I  will  the  other." 

They  went  to  work,  and  in  a  few  minutes  had 
produced  the  most  singular  and  gorgeous  barn- 
yard monarch  that  ever  spread  his  feathers  to  the 
sun.  With  a  white  body,  and  red  and  blue  wings, 
he  seemed  to  be  unconscious  of  his  magnificent 
appearance,  and  strutted  off  to  join  his  mates,  who 
ran  away  from  him,  seeming  not  to  know  him  in 
his  new  dress.  Uncle  Tracy,  about  this  time  com- 


IO8  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

ing  in  from  the  field,  saw  the  strange  bird,  and 
asked  the  grinning  rogues  where  it  came  from ; 
but  when  he  found  out  about  it  he  was  much  dis- 
pleased. He  told  them  that  even  a  poor  barn- 
yard fowl  had  rights  which  they  ought  to  respect, 
and  they  should  not  expose  even  an  innocent  and 
harmless  cockerel,  who  had  no  ambition,  to  ridi- 
cule, by  making  him  appear  what  he  was  not 
Now,  in  his  new  dress,  he  said,  he  was  like  some 
politician  drawn  out  to  fill  a  station  he  was  not 
fitted  to  fill,  to  strut  a  while  as  a  laughing-stock, 
and  then  to  disappear.  That  was  an  honest  old 
fowl,  and  he  did  not  like  to  see  him  so  put  upon. 
This  rather  dampened  the  fun  of  the  thing,  but 
the  crower  did  not  seem  to  be  at  all  aware  of  his 
gay  feathers ;  and  next  morning,  when  he  was  all 
alone,  Uncle  Tracy  was  heard  to  laugh  very  heart- 
ily as  he  saw  the  bird  strut  by. 

This  was  Aunt  Martha's  churning  morning,  and 
she  was  very  busy  at  the  dasher ;  while  Ike,  who 
thought  he  would  not  go  down  to  the  field  with 
Bill  and  Sim,  because  his  hand  was  still  sore,  stood 
looking  on  to  see  her  churn. 

"As  your  other  hand  is  not  lame,  dear,"  said 
Aunt  Martha,  "would  you  not  like  to  take  hold 


TRIED    BY    FIRE.  ICQ 


and  help  bring  my  butter,  while  I  go  and  do 
something  else  ? " 

Certainly,  he  thought  he  should  like  it;  and 
so  he  took  off  his  jacket,  and  went  to  work.  It 
seemed  easy  enough  at  first,  but  his  arm  soon 
began  to  ache;  and  he  thought  that  that  butter 
was  more  reluctant  to  "come"  than  he  had  ever 
been  when  called.  He  worked  away  very  dili- 
gently for  about  ten  minutes,  which  seemed  an 
hour,  when  he  stopped  to  rest  a  little ;  and  just 
then  he  saw  a  great  black  smoke  rise  up  over  the 
trees,  followed  by  a  blaze,  which  seemed  but  a 
little  way  off.  He  thought  it  was  a  barn  on  fire ; 
and,  without  even  putting  on  his  jacket,  he  left 
the  butter  to  come  of  its  own  accord,  and  started 
across  the  fields  in  the  direction  of  the  smoke, 
which  proved  farther  away  than  he  supposed,  but 
he  kept  on  to  where  he  found  an  immense  pile  of 
brush  burning  in  an  open  lot,  by  the  river,  which 
had  been  cleared  off.  Quite  a  number  of  people 
had  collected  about  the  fire ;  and  Ike,  excited  by 
the  scene,  as  every  boy  is  by  fire,  forgot  all  about 
his  churning.  As  soon,  however,  as  he  thought 
of  it,  he  left,  and  ran  back  as  fast  as  he  could. 

Aunt  Martha  had  seen  him  run  across  the  field; 


IIO  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

and,  knowing  that  he  could  not  be  back  again  for 
some  time,  she  went  out  and  renewed  the  churn- 
ing, the  butter  coming  very  soon.  She  took  it 
out  of  the  churn,  and  left  the  buttermilk  as  it 
was,  determining,  with  a  sly  humor,  to  play  a 
harmless  trick  upon  the  deserter.  Ike  came  back, 
puffing  and  blowing ;  and,  after  resting  a  moment, 
he  took  hold  of  the  old  dasher  again,  and  went 
to  work  vigorously.  The  butter  having  been  re- 
moved, it  worked  easier  than  it  did  before,  and  so 
he  churned  and  churned,  wondering  if  that  butter 
ever  would  come.  Bill  and  Sim  came  in  from  the 
field,  and  found  him  hard  at  it.  Bill  looked  into 
the  churn,  and  burst  out  laughing,  as  he  said,  — 

"  What  are  you  'bout  ?  " 

"Making  the  butter  come." 

"  Come  !  why,  the  butter's  come  —  and  gone." 

Ike  was  not  well  pleased  to  find  that  he  had 
been  churning  buttermilk;  but  he  felt  mean  for 
deserting  his  post,  and  with  a  funny  look  at  Aunt 
Martha,  who  smiled  back  at  him,  he  let  the  matter 
drop. 

There  came  up  a  terrible  rain  one  day ;  and,  as 
there  could  be  no  working  on  the  farm,  all  kept 
in  the  house.  Uncle  Tracy  took  his  agricultural 


RAINY-DAY    SPORT.  I  1 1 

paper,  and  went  away  to  read  it ;  Sim  found  a  book 
that  suited  him ;  and  Bill  and  Ike,  after  trying 
several  expedients  for  amusing  themselves,  got 
sky-larking.  Going  on,  little  by  little,  they  made 
things  very  lively,  and  drowned  the  noise  of  the 
rain  and  wind  by  their  boisterous  glee.  The  old 
house  had  a  large  hall,  or  entry,  that  extended 
from  front  to  rear,  a  door  from  which  opened  into 
the  front -room,  and  another  into  the  "sitting- 
room,"  or  parlor,  at  the  back  part  of  the  house. 
A  monstrous  chimney  ran  up  between  the  two 
rooms,  filling  the  whole  width,  except  a  small 
entry-way,  at  the  end  of  the  house,  which  con- 
nected the  two  rooms. 

After  playing  some  pretty  rough  games  on  each 
other,  Ike  took  a  heavy  cane,  and  Bill  a  broom 
which  Aunt  Martha  had  left  standing  by  the  door 
to  sweep  the  water  out  with,  and  commenced  an 
exhibition  of  fencing.  Then,  the  doors  of  the 
rooms  being  wide  open,  they  began  a  series  of 
mutual  attacks,  —  rough  and  tumble,  the  hardest 
fend  off,  —  chasing  one  another  round  from  room 
to  room,  each  watching  to  get  advantage  of  the 
other,  during  which  they  received  some  pretty 
hard  knocks.  The  sport  had  become  so  fierce, 


112 


IKE    PARTINGTON. 


and  the  noise  so  violent,  that  Aunt  Martha  begged 
Uncle  Tracy  to  go  out  and  overawe  the  disturbers 
of  the  peace  by  moral  power,  but  not  to  hurt 
them. 

The  door  of  Uncle  Tracy's  room  was  opposite 


the  one  from  which  Ike  was  emerging ;  and,  hear- 
ing the  old  man  coming,  he  stopped,  looking 
very  demure,  holding  his  weapon  behind  him. 
Uncle  Tracy  looked  at  him  steadily  and  somewhat 
sternly;  and  Ike,  holding  up  his  hand,  stepped 


FLOORED.  113 


forward,  pointing  to  the  door  of  the  front-room, 
saying,  in  a  deep  whisper,  "  In  there  !  " 

Uncle  Tracy,  without  saying  any  thing,  moved 
on  softly,  and  thrust  his  head  into  the  door  where 
Bill  was  waiting,  in  ambush,  to  receive  his  adver- 
sary. In  an  instant  the  broom  came  down  on 
Uncle  Tracy's  head  with  a  whack,  and  he  found 
himself  sprawling  across  the  entry.  Aunt  Martha 
ran  out  to  pick  him  up,  and  for  a  few  moments 
there  was  a  scene. 

Fortunately  it  was  the  broom  part,  saturated 
with  water,  that  struck  him ;  but  for  about  a 
minute  and  a  half  he  could  not  have  told  the 
name  of  the  town  he  lived  in,  nor  who  was  going 
to  be  the  next  president.  Ike  threw  his  cane 
aside,  and  stood  by,  with  a  very  long  face,  listen- 
ing to  the  lecture  which  Uncle  Tracy  gave  Bill, 
part  of  which  was  directed  at  him. 

"I  thought  it  was  Ike,"  said  Bill  in  reply. 

"Well,  I  didn't,"  replied  Uncle  Tracy,  rubbing 
his  head  ;  and  order  was  restored. 


114  IKE    PARTINGTON. 


CHAPTER   X. 

HOMEWARD  BOUND. DRIFTING   DOWN    THE    RIVER. 

THE  ANCIENT  FISHERMAN.  BITES.  PULL- 
ING IN  THE  BLUEFISH. AN  INTERCEPTED  LET- 
TER.  CAPTAIN  BOB  ON  TRUTH. HIS  SEALING- 

VOYAGE. 

IKE  and  Sim  had  extended  their  visit  to  two 
weeks,  and  were  ready  to  return  by  the  same 
packet  which  had  brought  them  up,  which  they 
were  to  signal  to  stop  for  them.  The  signal  was 
set,  and  they  bade  everybody  good-by ;  no  one, 
however,  being  very  urgent  to  have  them  stay  but 
Bill,  who,  though  a  little  older  than  they,  had 
found  them  capital  company.  He  went  down  to 
the  landing  with  them,  where  they  awaited  the 
coming  of  the  packet  on  the  ebb  tide.  She  was  a 
good-sized  vessel,  with  a  latteen  sail,  to  lower  when 
she  passed  under  the  bridge  before  reaching  Riv- 
ertown  ;  and  they  saw  her  tall  sail  over  the  bushes 
as  she  approached. 


DRIFTING   DOWN.  1 15 

In  a  few  minutes,  after  bidding  Bill  good-by, 
they  were  on  the  packet,  drifting  down  stream 
with  the  slack  tide ;  for  there  was  not  a  breath  of 
air  stirring.  The  way  was  long  to  Rivertown,  and 
promised  little  of  interest  to  the  young  voyagers. 
The  river  was  very  beautiful,  bordered  by  deep 
woods  and  majestic  rocks,  whose  dark  shadows 
lay  upon  the  waters ;  but  they  did  not  care  much 
about  such  things.  They  would  talk  for  a  mo- 
ment to  people  in  boats,  make  signals  to  any  one 
they  might  see  on  the  shore,  shout  to  hear  their 
voices  echo  among  the  rocks ;  but  boys  are  impa- 
tient, and  so  they  were  bored  on  board  the  packet. 
There  was  a  little  cabin  in  "The  Sally  Ann" 
(which  was  the  vessel's  name),  and  they  went  down 
into  it  to  see  what  it  was  like.  It  was  a  little  close 
place,  with  two  small  holes  in  the  stern  for  cabin- 
windows,  and  a  shelf  each  side,  on  which,  if  hard 
put  to  it,  one  or  two  might  sleep.  The  boys 
stretched  themselves  on  these  shelves,  and  looked 
out  dismally  over  the  still  water  far  behind. 

There  was  an  elderly  passenger,  who  was  also 
annoyed  by  the  slow  movement  of  the  boat.  He 
had  grown  tired  of  viewing  the  scenery,  and  thrown 
his  magazine  one  side,  and  now  asked  the  skipper 


Il6  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

if  he  had  a  fishing-line  on  board.  One  of  the  men 
opened  a  little  closet  near  at  hand,  and  produced 
a  line ;  and  then,  as  there  was  no  other  bait,  he 
brought  a  piece  of  fat  pork  to  put  on  the  hook. 
Thus  provided,  the  gentleman  threw  over  his  line, 
the  sinker  on  which  being  heavy,  it  sank  quickly 
to  the  bottom,  the  tide  keeping  it  in  place.  Then 
the  fisher  began  the  customary  performance  of 
pulling  the  line  up  and  down,  keeping  the  sinker 
a  little  way  from  the  bottom,  and  poising  it  so  that 
the  least  nibble  might  not  escape  him.  There  is 
nothing  that  pleases  a  lazy  man  so  much  as  this 
kind  of  fishing  —  of  course,  if  he  catches  any 
thing ;  and,  when  he  is  too  old  to  carry  a  pole  all 
day  through  bog  and  brier,  it  is  just  the  kind  to 
"taper  off  with,"  and  brag  about  like  an  old  Nim- 
rod.  So  he  fished. 

"  What's  that  ? "  said  Sim  in  a  whisper,  as  he 
saw  the  line  drop  into  the  water. 

"  Somebody's  fishing,  I  guess,"  replied  Ike,  who 
had  been  about  half  asleep. 

"He  can't  catch  any  thing." 

"  No,  of  course  not." 

"  I  don't  believe  he'll  get  a  bite." 

"Nor  I." 


A    SPLENDID    BITE.  I  I/ 

After  waiting  a  minute  Ike  said,  "Say,  Sim, 
s'pose  we  give  him  some  bites  ? " 

"How?"  asked  Sim. 

"I'll  show  you." 

Suiting  the  action  to  the  word,  Ike  reached  out 
of  the  little  window,  took  hold  of  the  line,  and 
gave  it  a  gentle  twitch.  Up  went  the  line,  hand 
over  hand,  very  rapidly,  and  they  heard  a  voice 
say,  "'Twas  a  splendid  bite." 

"  Bite  him  again,  Ike,  as  soon  as  he  gets  his  line 
down,"  said  Sim,  laughing  at  the  fun  of  the  thing. 

"  I'll  give  him  a  bigger  one  next  time,"  said  Ike. 

Down  went  the  line ;  and  it  was  pulled  up  and 
down  nervously  for  a  minute,  when,  reaching  out 
again,  Ike  gave  it  a  smarter  jerk.  Again  it  was 
pulled  in  swiftly ;  and  the  boys  were  convulsed 
with  laughter,  but  kept  as  still  as  they  could  so 
that  they  might  not  be  heard. 

"  Didn't  catch  him  that  time,"  said  Ike. 

"I  never  had  a  more  positive  bite,"  they  heard 
the  fisher  say.  "  It  must  have  been  a  tautog : 
they  always  seem  to  shut  their  jaw  right  down  on 
the  bait." 

The  skipper  did  not  think  it  could  be  a  tautog, 
because  none  had  ever  been  caught  in  the  river ; 


Il8  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

but  it  might  be  some  heavy  cod  which  had  come 
into  the  river  to  feed  on  the  muscles  at  the  old 
bridge  farther  up. 

Down  went  the  line  again,  and  it  was  drawn  up 
and  down  as  before  ;  but  the  boys  waited  fully  five 
minutes  before  they  touched  it. 

"  Now,  Ike,  give  him  a  halibut-bite,"  said  Sim. 

This  time  Ike  gave  a  more  determined  pull,  with 
the  same  result ;  when,  thinking  they  had  carried 
the  joke  far  enough,  they  crept  out  on  deck,  where 
they  found  the  fisherman  in  a  state  of  great  ex- 
citement, trying  again  for  a  bite,  and  disappointed 
that  he  could  not  get  another  one,  declaring  that 
he  never  had  finer  bites  in  his  life.  The  boys 
chuckled  to  themselves,  but  said  nothing. 

The  old  gentleman  at  last  discontinued  trying, 
but  left  his  line  hanging  over  the  stern.  A  breeze 
sprang  up,  the  tide  increased,  and  the  packet 
moved  swiftly,  the  line  stretching  far  behind. 

"  Sim,"  said  Ike  in  a  low  tone,  "  go  down  and 
get  that  old  umbrella-frame  we  saw  there." 

Sim  crept  down,  and  soon  returned  with  an 
umbrella,  whereof  little  was  left  besides  the  sticks ; 
to  which,  the  line  having  been  drawn  in,  Ike 
attached  the  hook  near  the  ferule,  that  the  frame 


SOMETHING    ON.  119 


might  not  spread,  and  then  threw  it  overboard. 
Having  done  this  the  boys  walked  away  very 
unconcernedly  to  another  part  of  the  vessel. 

The  line  ran  out  to  its  utmost  length ;  and  then 
a  great  commotion  appeared  in  the  water,  as  the 
umbrella  was  dashed  from  side  to  side  and  over 
and  over  as  if  by  some  large  fish  that  was  strug- 
gling to  free  itself.  No  real  fish  could  have  been 
more  active ;  and  one  of  the  men,  glancing  towards 
it,  cried,  — 

" What's  on  the  line?" 

The  cry  immediately  attracted  the  attention  of 
the  old  gentleman,  who  rushed  aft,  and  insisted 
on  his  right  to  pull  in  the  fish,  as  he  had  been 
so  tantalized  by  the  bites.  The  polite  waterman 
gave  way;  and,  seizing  the  line,  the  gentleman 
began  to  pull  it  in.  The  excitement  in  the  water 
increased  with  the  effort  he  made.  It  was  un- 
doubtedly a  bluefish,  he  said,  because  he  had 
caught  hundreds  of  them  in  Buzzard's  Bay,  and 
knew  one  by  the  pull.  The  line  slipped  from  his 
hands,  the  resistance  was  so  great ;  and  he  eagerly 
began  to  pull  in  again.  All  on  board  were  now 
watching  the  line. 

"  I  guess  it  is  a  whale,"  said  Ike. 


120 


IKE    PARTINGTON. 


"  Or  a  shark,"  said  Sim. 

The  skipper  said  nothing,  but  he  looked  funny 
round   the   corners   of   his  mouth   as  he  glanced 

sideways     at 
the  boys. 

Never  was 
there  greater 
trouble  in 


catching  a  fish : 
even  Commodore  Hun- 
tress, and  his  halibut 
hooked  by  the  tail,  were  beat- 
en by  this  that  flashed  and 
floundered  out  there  in  the  water.  The  sunlight 
was  in  the  eyes  of  those  looking  on,  so  that 
it  was  no  wonder  they  could  not  make  out  what 


HIS    AUTOGRAPH    REQUESTED.  121 

it  was.  The  old  gentleman  had  nearly  got  it  in, 
and  giving  a  last  effort  he  drew  the  sea-monster 
over  the  stern.  Surprise  and  anger  filled  the 
ancient  fisherman  as  he  threw  down  the  line,  and 
walked  away,  laying  all  the  blame  to  the  one  who 
first  gave  the  alarm. 

Somehow  or  other  it  leaked  out  before  they 
reached  Rivertown,  that  the  boys  did  it,  as  well 
as  what  sort  of  fish  it  was  that  gave  the  bites ; 
and,  though  the  old  gent  felt  vexed  with  them  at 
first,  he  afterwards  confessed  to  the  skipper  that 
they  were  "lively  boys."  And  when  he  found  out 
that  one  of  them  was  Ike  Partington,  he  asked 
him  for  his  autograph! 

Ike  was  warmly  welcomed  home  by  Mrs.  Par- 
tington, who  looked  him  over  to  see  if  he  had 
come  back  whole,  and  then  began  a  catalogue  of 
questions  as  to  what  he  had  seen,  how  he  had 
behaved,  and  how  they  had  treated  him. 

"  I  hope  you  were  a  good  boy,"  she  said. 

Ike  assured  her  that  his  conduct  had  been 
irreproachable,  for  the  proof  of  which  she  might 
ask  Sim. 

"  Well,  I'm  glad  to  hear  that  you  didn't  do  any 
thing  to  vindicate  your  good  name ;  for  people 


122  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

judge  a  person's  conduct  by  the  way  he  behaves 
himself,  and  we  are  always  happier  when  we  have 
done  nothing  that  our  conscience  acquits  us  of." 

Ike  said,  "  Yes  'm,"  as  he  navigated  through  a 
quarter  section  of  custard-pie. 

"  And  did  you  like  farming  ?  " 

"Boss." 

"  What  part  did  you  like  best  ? " 

"  Fishing." 

"  I  hope  you  didn't  go  on  the  water  to  catch 
fish,"  said  the  dame  anxiously. 

"  How  could  I  catch  'em  if  I  didn't  ? " 

Mrs.  Partington  silently  admitted  the  logical 
force  of  this  question,  looking  at  him  over  her 
glasses,  and  then  turned  his  valise  inside  out  to 
see  if  he  had  brought  back  all  of  his  clothes. 
She  shook  every  garment ;  and,  as  she  served  an 
old  jacket  thus,  a  paper  dropped  out  of  one  of  the 
pockets,  which  she  picked  up. 

"What  is  that,  Isaac  ?"  she  asked. 

"My  gracious!"  replied  he,  "if  that  isn't  Joe 
Moody 's  letter  which  I  wrote  him  up  to  the  farm. 
I  put  it  in  my  pocket,  and  forgot  to  send  it." 

After  rebuking  him  for  his  neglect  to  write  to 
her,  when  he  could  find  time  to  write  to  any  one 
else,  she  opened  the  letter,  and  read,  — 


LETTER    AND    A    MORAL.  123 

HILL-TOP,  Augurst  5. 

DEAR  Jo  —  I  rite  this  on  a  bee  hyve  in  a  barn  turned 
bottom  up  with  lots  of  swallers  flying  round  but  you  cant 
ketch  em  and  I  found  three  hens  nests  whitch  was  laid 
away  in  the  hay  whitch  I  shall  try  to  find  some  more.  I 
and  Sim  went  for  sum  hornets  down  into  the  field  and  they 
stung  Uncle  Tracy  on  the  nose  wen  we  drownded  out  a 
woodchuck  whitch  we  didnt  becos  he  got  away  before  we 
drownded  him.  You  ort  to  see  the  crower  that  me  and  Sim 
painted  red  white  and  blew  and  we  histed  the  cat  up  on  the 
well  sweape  to  tellegraff  the  boys  over  the  river  who  histed 
up  a  pare  of  boots  and  a  corn  baskit  which  is  fun  though 
Uncle  Tracy  don't  like  it  much.  I'm  going  fishing  tomorrer 
with  Sim  and  Bill  and  tell  the  fellers  that  we  are  hunky  dory 
also  the  old  woman  up  the  crick. 

Yures  always,        IKE  PARTINGTON. 

"Who  do  you  have  reverence  to  by  'old 
woman '  ? "  said  Mrs.  Partington,  folding  the  note, 
and  looking  at  him  severely  over  her  spectacles. 

Ike  was  confused  for  a  moment. 

"  I  guess  I  was  absent-minded  when  I  wrote 
that,"  replied  he;  "I  should  have  said  'lady,'  of 
course.  I  had  a  bad  pen,  and  couldn't  think  very 
straight." 

"  Well,  be  careful  that  you  don't  make  such  a 
mistake  again,  for  to  be  disreputable  to  old  people 
is  not  very  credible  in  the  young." 


124  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

The  first  person  that  Ike  called  upon  after 
getting  home  was  Captain  Bob,  who  shook  hands 
with  him  cordially,  as  he  had  missed  his  little 
neighbor  very  much.  Seeing  a  red  mark  on  Ike's 
thumb :  — 

"What's  the  matter  with  it?"  asked  the  cap- 
tain. 

"  Got  a  fish-hook  into  it,"  replied  Ike. 

Ike  told  him  then  the  whole  story,  how  he  got 
the  hook  in,  and  how  he  got  it  out,  and  about  the 
commodore's  halibut  caught  by  the  tail,  whereby 
the  captain  was  much  interested. 

"But,  Lor'  bless  ye!"  said  he,  "ketching  one 
halibut  by  the  tail  is  no  great  things.  Now,  what 
if  I  should  tell  you  I  had  been  in  a  boat  where 
two  had  been  caught  by  the  tail,  and  that  one  of 
the  crew  stood  up  in  the  bow,  and  druv  them 
halibuts,  like  a  span,  through  the  water,  drawing 
the  boat  after  'em  ? " 

"  Of  course  that  would  be  twice  as  wonderful," 
replied  Ike  with  a  grin. 

"So  'twould,"  chuckled  the  captain,  —  "so 
'twould :  you're  right,  there,  every  time.  But 
'tisn't  no  use  to  say  I  didn't  see  it,  for  you 
wouldn't  believe  such  a  lie;  and  yet  a  lie  that 


GOING   SEALING.  125 

nobody  won't  believe  isn't  so  bad  as  one  that 
comes  so  near  the  truth  that  it  looks  like  it,  and 
cheats  us.  Them's  the  lies  that  count.  But  this 
'ere  halibut  story  may  be  true  ;  for,  you  see,  there's 
mighty  strange  things  happening  all  the  time  on 
salt  water,  as  you  know  how  it  is  yourself,  being  a 
shipwrecked  sailor." 

"  I  know  you  have  lots  of  sea-stories,"  said  Ike. 

"  Guess  I  have,  my  little  chap,  and  true  ones 
too.  Huntress  never  went  on  a  sealing-voyage." 

"  Sealing-voyage  !     What's  that  ?  " 

"Why,  to  ketch  seals  like  them  in  Barnum's 
show,  only  they  are  different.  The  ones  I  went 
fur  were  the  fur  seals  that  the  gals  wear  on  their 
shoulders,  —  away  to  the  Falkland  Islands,  if  you 
know  where  they  be." 

Ike  said  he  had  heard  of  them. 

"Well,  we  went  out  there,  clear  to  Cape  Horn, 
in  a  little  schooner  called  'The  Lovely  Polly,'  to 
ketch  seals  ;  and  we  had  to  kill  'em  to  ketch  'em. 
It  did  seem  cruel  for  us  to  go  so  fur  on  purpose  to 
kill  the  poor  things  that  hadn't  done  us  no  harm, 
and  looked  at  us  so  cur'ously  from  the  rocks  with 
their  soft  dark  eyes.  They  didn't  stop  long  to 
look,  though,  but  rolled  off  into  the  water ;  and 


126  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

'twas  real  tetching  to  see  the  seal  mothers  tumble 
their  babies  into  the  sea,  and  then  follow  'em. 
We  found  'em  covering  the  rocks,  hundreds  of 
'em,  and  every  day  killed  more  or  less.  The  way 
we  done  it  was  to  come  upon  'em  when  they  were 
sunning  themselves,  get  right  in  their  pathway  to 
the  sea,  and  then,  when  they  ran  by,  knock  'em 
on  the  nose  with  a  heavy  club,  one  lick  of  which 
fixed  'em.  It  seemed  cowardly  like,  and  wicked ; 
but  we  were  there  to  make  money,  and  men  will 
do  any  thing  for  that.  'Tis  better,  though,  let  me 
tell  you,  to  kill  seals  for  money  than  it  is  to  rob 
widows  and  orphans  as  too  many  do  nowadays. 
One  day  we.  went  ashore  where  we  knew  there 
must  be  lots  of  seals  ;  but  not  a  whisker  did  we  see, 
high  or  low,  'cept  one  big  seal  that  dodged  some- 
where as  soon  as  he  saw  us.  When  we  got  up  to 
where  he  was,  we  found  the  mouth  of  a  cave ;  and, 
looking  in,  we  could  see  lots  of  eyes  glisten.  It 
seemed  as  if  the  cave  was  full,  and  some  one  must 
go  in  to  drive  'em  out.  It  was  a  kind  o'  pokerish 
business,  and  nobody  wanted  to  do  it.  I  was 
young  then,  and  full  of  spirit,  and  I  asked  the 
captain  to  let  me  go.  He  was  a  little  doubtful 
about  it ;  but,  as  nobody  else  would  go,  he  said 


A    WILD    RIDE.  127 


that  I  might.  I  crawled  into  the  cave ;  and,  sure 
enough,  there  they  were,  hundreds  of  'em.  They 
jumped  up  with  a  growl  when  they  saw  me,  and 
put  for  the  opening.  I  couldn't  stand  up,  the 
place  was  so  low :  so  I  sat  there,  and  as  they  ran 
by  I  would  tip  them  on  the  nose,  and  the  ones 
outside  drawed  'em  out.  I  didn't  move  till  I'd 
killed  three  hundred  and  forty-five  of  'em." 

"Weren't  you  tired?" 

"  N-no :  I  was  'cited  like,  and  so  didn't  mind 
it." 

"But  how  could  so  many  get  into  so  small  a 
place  ? " 

"  Never  you  mind  about  that :  so  it  was.  When 
all  of  'em  was  killed  but  one  old  sea-lion,  I 
thought,  boy-like,  'twould  be  fine  sport  to  ride 
him  out;  and,  when  he  came  along,  I  jumped  on 
to  his  back.  I  tell  you  he  made  the  quickest  time 
ever  known  in  them  parts ;  and,  before  I  could  say 
*  Jack  Robinson,'  I  was  overboard  and  that  seal  a 
mile  under  water." 

"  Why  wasn't  you  drowned  ? "  asked  Ike,  with 
surprise. 

"Because  my  time  hadn't  come.  Nobody  can 
die  before  their  time  comes.  I  was  picked  up  by 
the  boat." 


128  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

The  captain,  having  finished  his  story,  lay  back 
with  his  sharp  eyes  fixed  on  Ike  to  read  its  effect 
on  him.  He  evidently  liked  it,  but  he  wondered 
to  himself  what  it  had  to  do  with  getting  the  hook 
out  of  his  finger.  With  a  promise  to  spin  him 
some  more  sea-yarns  at  some  other  time,  the 
captain  went  down  to  stop  a  leak  in  "  The  Jolly 
Robin;"  and  Ike  went  up  into  the  field  by  the 
shore,  to  look  after  a  bumble-bee's  nest  that  he 
had  discovered  before  he  went  away,  and  took  a 
deep  interest  in. 


IN    THE   WOODS.  I2Q 


CHAPTER   XL 

THE  WOOD-RANGERS. THE  OLD  GUN  AND  THE 

CATS. GROUND  AND  LOFTY  TUMBLING. IKE 

CRIPPLED  BY  A  FALL. 

A  LTHOUGH  the  sports  on  the  creek  were 
/~V  delightful  to  the  boys,  it  was  equally  pleas- 
ant for  them  to  go  out  into  the  grand  old  woods 
which  came  down  to  within  a  mile  of  the  town, 
and  play  the  "ranger."  Here  were  broad  acres 
of  forest  and  swamp,  as  new  as  if  direct  from  the 
hand  of  the  Creator,  for  their  improvement ;  and 
well  they  improved  them,  in  their  way.  Sylvan 
sports  of  all  kinds  were  indulged  in  ;  each,  by  a 
free  exercise  of  imagination,  fancying  himself  a 
Robin  Hood  or  a  Little  John,  and  not  on  a  small 
scale  either.  Each  one,  provided  with  a  hatchet, 
a  knife,  or  a  bow  and  arrow,  was  inspired  to 
"blaze"  every  tree  they  passed,  in  imitation  of 
the  early  settlers,  or  to  shoot  their  shafts  at  the 
inoffensive  birds  and  squirrels,  which,  however, 


I3O  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

they  seldom  harmed,  but  always  came  "pretty 
near"  hitting. 

Who  ever  knew  or  heard  of  a  boy  killing  a  bird 
with  his  arrow,  however  bloody  his  intention  ?  The 
genii  of  the  woods  considerately  turn  the  bolts 
aside,  or  there  would  not  be  enough  of  the 
feathered  songsters  left  for  seed.  Boys  are  more 
apt  to  harm  themselves,  as  Ike  was  made  to  feel 
when  he  got  the  corner  of  Ephe  Dennett's  hatchet 
under  the  "  pan-bone "  of  his  left  knee,  which 
caused  him  to  limp  for  a  month  or  two  afterwards. 

They  were  great  rangers,  and  their  pleasant 
voices  made  music  as  they  laughed  and  sung 
under  the  arches  of  the  trees.  One  song  was  a 
favorite :  — 

" ' Pray,  who  did  kill  that  noble  stag?' 

"Twas  I,  'twas  I,  'twas  I ; 
And  I  am  called  bold  Robin  Hood.' 

'  Bold  Robin,  you  must  die  ! ' 
Bold  Robin  then  he  blew  his  horn, 

And  soon  his  archers  came : 
They  ducked  the  verderer  in  the  pool, 

And  laughed  to  see  his  shame." 

It  wouldn't  have  been  wholesome  for  any  "ver- 
derer "  to  have  come  among  them  single-handed, 


CAT    CONCERT    INTERRUPTED. 


for  he  would  probably  have  shared  the  fate  of  the 
one  of  the  ballad  ;  for  there  were  plenty  of  pools 
for  ducking  purposes  all  round.  Once  they  got  a 
gun,  which  was  a  great  innovation  and  a  first-rate 
thing,  for  it  afforded  a  delightful  chance  to  blow 
their  brains  out,  or  inflict  on  themselves  some 
other  mortal  injury.  They  took  turns  to  fire, 
with  the  door  of  an  old  barn  for  a  target,  which 
they  rarely  hit,  but  came  nigh  killing  the  cattle 
in  the  field  by  the  reckless  way  in  which  they 
fired  with  both  eyes  shut.  The  gun  was  Captain 
Bob's  ;  and  they  got  it  of  him  when  he  was  labor- 
ing under  an  excess  of  good-nature,  and  was  sorry 
a  moment  afterwards  that  he  let  it  go  off.  They 
returned  it,  however,  without  having  blown  off 
any  of  their  limbs. 

"  If  that  gun  had  served  you  as  it  did  me  once, 
you'd  never  have  wanted  to  borrow  it,"  said  he. 

"Tell  us  about  it,"  they  cried. 

"Well,  one  night  as  I  was  sleeping  with  my 
brother  Ben  in  the  attic  of  the  old  homestead,  — 
a  little  one-story  house,  not  much  bigger  than  a 
martin-box,  —  there  came  a  yowling  of  cats  on  the 
roof,  as  if  they  were  holding  a  caucus  up  there. 
We  were  right  under  'em,  and  could  hear  'em 


132 


IKE    PARTINGTON. 


scratching,  clawing,  and  spitting;  and  says  I, 
'  Ben,  you  lay  still,  and  I'll  go  out  and  fix  'em.' 
So  I  crept  down  stairs,  and  felt  along  to  where 
this  old  gun  was  hanging.  I  had  loaded  her  for 
ducks  as  much  as  six  months  before,  and  hung 

her  up  all  primed 
for  use ;  but  the 
ducks  hadn't  hap- 
pened along.  I 
took  her  down 
from  the  hooks, 
and  went  out  just 
as  I  came  from 
bed,  and  the  night 
was  cold  as  Cicero. 
I  didn't  stop  to 
think,  because  I  was  so  chilly, 
but  blazed  away ;  and  in  half  a 
minute  I  was  kicked  about  six 
rods  over  across  a  fence  into  a 
snow-drift.  I  got  back  as  soon  as  I  could,  you  bet, 
and  found  Ben  half  scared  into  fits,  because,  he 
said,  the  shot  had  come  right  on  to  him.  Next 
morning  we  found  three  dead  cats  in  the  cabbage- 
yard  behind  the  house.  That's  the  dientical  gun." 


BEAVER    DAM.  133 


They  all  looked  at  it  and  handled  it  with  fresh 
interest,  but  the  captain  never  loaned  it  to  them 
again. 

There  was  a  place  called  "Beaver  Dam,"  for 
some  reason  or  other,  which  was  famous  as  a 
place  of  resort  for  the  boys ;  and  the  names  of 
many  generations  of  Rivertown  boys  were  carved 
deep  in  the  bark  of  an  immense  broad-breasted 
beech-tree.  Ike's  name  soon  found  a  place  there 
in  characters  more  bold  than  elegant,  to  be  ad- 
mired by  coming  ages.  There  were  grand  pasture 
oaks  also  in  the  vicinity,  whose  lower  branches 
swept  the  ground ;  and  walnut-trees,  which  ac- 
counted for  the  attraction  of  boys  and  squirrels 
in  the  fall  of  the  year.  Perhaps  it  was  for  their 
picturesque  effect  when  the  leaves  were  chan- 
ging, and  the  whole  forest  of  hard-wood  trees  was 
crowned  with  the  glories  of  autumn.  Whatever 
the  reason,  they  were  sure  to  visit  Beaver  Dam. 

One  fine  warm  October  afternoon  quite  a  crowd 
of  the  youngsters,  having  had  their  accustomed 
ramble  through  the  woods,  cutting  "  cat-tails,"  and 
hemlock  boughs  for  bows,  found  their  way  to 
the  "Dam,"  and  were  enjoying  themselves  splen- 
didly, risking  their  necks  by  climbing  the  trees 


134  IKE    PARTINGTON. 


as  if  they  were  squirrels  and  without  any  more 
fear.  After  a  while  Ike,  jumping  up  and  catching 
hold  of  a  branch,  cried  out,  — 

"  See  here,  Sam  Hyte  !  I  say,  Tom  Scates  ! 
Hallo,  all  of  you  !  I'm  going  to  show  you  some 
new  gymnastics.  I  intend  to  join  the  circus  next 
year." 

"  What  are  you  going  to  do  ?  "  asked  one. 

"  I'm  up  a  tree,  and  I'm  going  to  try  some  new 
ground  and  lofty  tumbling." 

"Take  care  you  don't  tumble  in  earnest." 

"  Look  out  and  don't  fall." 

"  You'd  better  give  up  your  monkey-tricks,  and 
come  down." 

Almost  every  one  had  something  to  say  about 
it  ;  and  Ike  gave  up  his  intention  of  astonishing 
them,  but  came  down  upon  a  limb  about  twelve 
feet  from  the  ground,  and  settled  among  the 
branches,  half  way  out,  his  weight  bending  down 
the  ends  till  the  boys  below  could  reach  them. 

"Now,"  said  he,  "take  hold,  and  give  us  a 
swing." 

"All  right." 

"  Well,  now  all  together  !  " 

The  limb,  which  was  a  pretty  large  one,  moved 


THE    LAST    PULL.  135 

gracefully  up  and  down,  and  swayed  a  little  to  the 
right  and  left,  Ike  nestling  among  the  leaves,  and 
urging  those  who  had  hold  to  toss  him  up  higher. 

"Now  give  a  half  dozen  pulls  for  the  last,"  he 
shouted. 

They  took  hold  now  with  a  will,  and  threw  all 
their  strength  into  the  effort,  when,  at  about  the 
fourth  pull,  they  heard  the  limb  split  off  from  the 
trunk  of  the  tree,  and  Ike  rolled  out  of  his  cradle, 
falling  head  first  upon  the  ground,  like  a  paver's 
rammer.  He  put  out  his  hands  to  break  his  fall ; 
and  when  he  got  upon  his  feet,  as  soon  as  he  was 
able  to  do  so,  he  thought  his  wrists  were  broken. 
They  swelled  immediately,  and  were  -entirely  use- 
less. Here  had  been  "ground  and  lofty  tum- 
bling "  which  they  had  not  expected ;  but  they 
said  nothing,  only  to  sympathize  with  the  suf- 
ferer. 

He  was  in  a  bad  condition  when  he  got  home ; 
and  Mrs.  Partington  sent  for  Dr.  Kittredge  to 
come  as  "expediently  as  possible."  He  came, 
examined  the  hurts,  and  was  thinking  what  to  do, 
when  Mrs.  Partington  asked,  in  a  tone  of  deep 
anxiety,  — 

"  Are  the  wrists  desecrated,  doctor  ? " 


136  IKE    PARTINGTON. 


"No,  nor  dislocated." 

"  Is  it  a  fraction  of  any  bones,  or  sich  ? " 

"  No  :  merely  a  sprain." 

"  I'm  so  glad !  I  remember  when  my  dear 
Paul  —  that  is  my-  husband  —  ran  against  the 
edge  of  an  open  door,  in  the  dark,  and  broke  the 
cartridge  of  his  nose,  and  said  he  had  no  idea 
that  his  nose  was  longer  than  his  arm  before, 
how  much  he  suffered  from  the  confusion,  with 
the  skin  upbraided,  and  his  eye  as  black  as  my 
shoe." 

"  Nothing  is  broken,  ma'am  ;  and,  with  a  little 
patience  and  some  time,  he  will  be  out  again  as 
good  as  new." 

"  I'm  glad  to  hear  you  speak  so  sanguinary, 
I  declare." 

The  doctor  left  something  for  the  patient, 
visited  him  several  times,  and  sent  in  his  bill, 
which  was  paid ;  but  it  was  a  long  time  before 
Ike  was  himself  again.  Mr.  Grum  was  not  afraid  of 
him  now.  Whatever  the  scheme  the  boys  had  on 
foot,  he  could  not  have  a  hand  in  it.  He  began, 
however,  to  do  things,  little  by  little,  —  easy 
things  at  first,  —  the  last,  such  as  bringing  wood 
and  water,  being  pronounced  impossible  for  a 


HIMSELF   AGAIN.  137 


long  while;  but  at  length  he  was  "right  as  a 
trivet,"  whatever  that  may  be,  and  ready  to  have 
a  finger  in  any  thing  that  was  going  on,  even  if  it 
was  a  cart-load  of  apples. 


138  IKE    PARTINGTON. 


CHAPTER   XII. 

AMUSING  THE  INVALID.  —  TRYING  A   CAT'S   TEMPER. 

THE  OLD  ANTEDILUVIAN. QUEER  STORIES. 

THE   FIGHT   AT   SHELDON'S. MAKING    UP. 

WHILE  Ike  was  shut  up  in  the  house  with 
his  sprained  wrists,  the  restraint  was  ter- 
rible to  him.  He  was  not  one  of  the  studious 
kind  of  boys,  who  could  sit  and  read  and  enjoy 
seclusion  under  the  spell  of  a  book.  Even  a  spell- 
ing-book had  no  charm  for  him  :  so  he  would  take 
his  place  by  the  window,  and  amuse  himself  with 
what  was  going  on  outside ;  but,  as  the  place  was 
very  quiet,  not  much  of  interest  occurred  to  please 
or  excite  him.  The  creek  side  of  the  house  was 
more  satisfactory,  as  he  could  overlook  the  stream, 
and  watch  the  boats  as  they  sailed  by,  —  could  see 
the  people  cross  the  bridge  which  dammed  the 
creek  at  its  outlet,  and  the  huge  flood-gates  be- 
neath it,  which  opened  and  shut  with  the  rising 
and  falling  tide ;  but  even  this  grew  monotonous, 


FUN    WITH    THE    CAT.  139 

and  he  sighed  for  release.  The  boys  would  come 
as  often  as  they  could  to  cheer  him,  and  turn  sum- 
mersets before  the  window,  and  run  races,  and  all 
that;  but  it  only  reminded  him  of  his  own  disa- 
bility, and  he  was  not  happy.  The  boys  were 
reduced  to  one  on  a  Saturday  afternoon,  Mrs. 
Partington  having  gone  out  for  a  time,  while  little 
Nat  Sides,  a  very  sprightly  fellow,  remained  in 
charge  of  the  invalid. 

He  had  exhausted  all  of  his  ingenuity  in  provid- 
ing expedients  for  the  amusement  of  the  sufferer 
until  he  was  about  giving  up,  when  he  espied  the 
cat  sleeping  serenely  in  a  corner.  The  instinct 
for  tormenting,  which  forever  inspires  the  human 
boy,  instantly  lighted  his  eye,  and  spread  his  face 
with  a  glow  of  happiness. 

"  Let's  have  some  fun  with  the  cat,"  said  he. 

Ike,  much  interested,  replied,  "  Yes.  But  what 
are  you  going  to  do  ?  " 

"  Oh,  you'll  see  !  Is  there  a  big  bag  here  any- 
where ? " 

"  Look  in  the  closet  there." 

Nat  looked  in ;  and  there  hung  Mrs.  Parting- 
ton's  rag-bag  in  which  all  the  shreds  were  usually 
saved,  but  it  was  now  nearly  empty. 


I4O  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

"That's  your  sort,"  said  he. 

He  took  the  bag  down  from  the  nail  where  it 
hung,  and,  hitching  it  to  the  back  of  a  chair, 
went  to  bring  the  cat.  She  was  in  that  state  be- 
twixt sleeping  and  waking,  when  a  cat's  senses, 
like  her  claws,  are  sheathed;  and  she  made  no 
resistance.  Nat  took  possession  of  her  in  this 
half-and-half  condition ;  and  before  a  glimmer  of 
his  wicked  purpose  could  enter  her  mind,  he  had 
her  in  the  bag  with  the  string  drawn  closely 
around  her  neck.  She  was  wide  awake  now,  and 
made  a  fierce  struggle  to  free  herself,  but  in  vain. 
She  yowled  and  spit  and  kicked,  her  eyes  flashing 
fire ;  but  the  boys  only  laughed. 

"  Tickle  her  with  a  straw,"  said  Ike. 

"Yes,"  replied  Nat. 

Mrs.  Partington's  best  broom  reposed  behind 
the  door,  from  which  a  piece  was  taken ;  and  then 
the  experiment  began  which  was  to  put  to  test  the 
temper  of  the  cat  and  the  cruelty  of  the  experi- 
menters. They  tickled  her  nose,  and  tried  her  at 
every  exposed  point.  The  poor  creature,  terrified 
and  angry,  remonstrated  in  her  way,  and  showed, 
by  the  manner  in  which  her  claws  revealed  them- 
selves through  the  cloth,  that  if  she  could  only 


TRYING   HER   TEMPER. 


141 


get  at  them,  she  might  have  a  chance  to  laugh, 
and  they,  perhaps,  wouldn't. 

Right  in  the  midst  of  the  scene,  while  the  boys 
were  at  the  height  of  their  glee,  the  door  opened, 
and  Mrs.  Partington  entered.  The  noise  ceased 


at  once,  the  cat  looked  appealingly  to  the  dame, 
and  she,  with  a  flush  of  indignation,  cried,  — 

"What  are  you  doing,  you  imps  of  wicked- 
ness ? " 

"We  aren't  hurting  her,"  explained  Ike. 

"  We  are  only  trying  her  temper,"  echoed  Nat. 


142  IKE    PARTINGTON. 


"  Well,  you  extract  her  from  that  bag  as  quick 
as  you  can,  or  I  shall  harm  yoti  and  try  your 
temper." 

She  was  very  severe  as  she  said  this  while  tak- 
ing off  her  gloves,  and  Nat  proceeded  to  let  the 
cat  out  of  the  bag.  Coming  too  near  her,  how- 
ever, without  minding,  his  hand  was  brought  with- 
in reach  of  her  mouth,  and  she  seized  his  thumb 
in  her  teeth,  making  him  scream  with  pain.  Mrs. 
Partington  went  to  his  relief,  and  released  the  cat, 
which  made  a  dash  through  the  open  window, 
while  the  boy  danced  round  the  kitchen  crying. 

"  There,  dear/'  said  she,  softened  by  her  sympa- 
thy, "  you  see  that  cats  and  boys  can  be  simulta- 
neous in  their  feelings.  You  tried  her  tempera- 
ture, and  now  she  has  tried  yours.  Think  how 
you  would  like  to  be  put  in  a  bag,  and  have  sticks 
stuck  in  your  nose ;  and  don't  serve  a  poor  cat  so 
pussylanimously  again." 

There  were  many  who  came  in  to  see  Ike  dur- 
ing his  trouble ;  and  among  these  was  old  Mark 
Treddle,  who  had  early  got  acquainted  with  him. 
Old  Mark,  who  dearly  loved  boys,  had  led  a  mel- 
ancholy life.  His  home  was  at  the  town  jail, 
where  he  had  been  taken  in  his  early  years  for  a 


AMONG    THE    PATRIARCHS. 


terrible  crime  which  he  had  committed  while  in- 
sane. The  insanity  was  so  plain  that  he  had 
never  been  even  brought  to  trial,  but  had  been 
kept  at  the  jail,  where  since  he  was  perfectly  harm- 
less, he  was  not  held  in  restraint,  but  went  where 
he  would.  He  was  very  ingenious  with  tools,  and 
had  tried  to  instruct  Ike  in  the  mysteries  of  the 
jacknife,  by  which  he  would  produce  windmills  and 
kites  that  should  defy  competition.  And  then  such 
stories  as  he  would  tell,  coined  from  his  own  dis- 
eased fancy,  —  so  wild  and  strange,  with  no  regard 
to  time  or  place,  —  mixing  up  the  men  and 
things  of  old  with  those  of  the  present  time  !  He 
knew,  he  said,  the  ones  who  figured  in  Bible 
story,  and  saw  them  every  day.  David,  Nathan, 
Noah,  Jeremiah,  were  his  neighbors ;  and  he  him- 
self beheld  the  downfall  of  the  temple  where  Sam- 
son "brought  down  the  house"  when  called  to 
make  sport  for  the  Philistines. 

He  was  very  prompt  in  coming  to  see  Ike,  and 
often  cheered  him  with  some  of  his  wonderful 
stories.  Mrs.  Partington,  while  admitting  that 
these  seemed  a  little  confused,  thought  she  saw  a 
great  deal  of  good  sense  in  some  of  them. 

"You  know  Jeremiah?"  he  said,  abruptly  ad- 
dressing Mrs.  Partington  on  one  occasion. 


144  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

"  Jeremiah  who  ?  "  she  asked. 

"  Why,  the  prophet,  — Jere  Green." 

"  I  know  Jere  Green,  but  had  no  idea  he  was 
prophetable." 

"Yes.  Well,  it  would  have  done  you  good  to 
see  him  fix  them  soothsayers  and  false  prophets. 
They  couldn't  hold  a  candle  to  Jere ;  and  when  he 
iiad  made  out  the  writing  on  the  wall,  he  rolled  up 
the  biggest  of  'em  into  a  ball,  and  knocked  the 
others  down  with  it  as  if  they'd  been  ninepins." 

"  You  don't  say  so ! "  she  exclaimed. 

"  Yes.  Well,  he  told  me  of  a  cure  for  pain.  A 
friend  of  his  in  Judee  sprained  his  ankle,  and  got 
the  rheumatism  in  it,  when  Jere  told  him  he  would 
cure  it.  So  he  got  a  large  cannon,  rammed  his 
friend  into  it,  and  fired  him  off ;  and  he  went  so  far 
into  the  country  that  it  took  him  three  weeks  to 
get  back.  He  had  to  walk  all  the  way,  and  never 
had  any  trouble  afterwards." 

"What  a  curious  anecdote  for  pain  ! "  said  Mrs. 
Partington,  smiling,  and  elevating  her  hands.  Ike 
thought  he  wouldn't  like  to  try  it. 

At  another  time,  Mrs.  Partington  quoted  David 
as  saying  something. 

"Yes,"  said  Mark,  "and  I  heard  him  say  it. 


QUEER   FANCIES.  145 


Poor  old  man  !  I  pity  him  in  his  trouble  about 
Absalom,  who  has  been  taken  up  for  setting  fire 
to  a  barn  on  Jerusalem  Road.  If  the  wood  had 
been  like  that,  at  Labrador,"  he  continued,  "it 
wouldn't  have  done  any  harm  if  he  had  set  it." 

"Isn't  it  inflammatory?"  asked  Mrs.  Partington. 

"  Yes.  Bless  you  !  'tis  so  cold  there,  and  the 
wood  is  so  frozen,  that  they  have  to  soak  it  in  cold 
water  three  days  to  thaw  it  out  before  it  will  burn, 
and  then  it  has  to  be  pounded  with  a  sledge- 
hammer." 

"  Who  is  David  ? "  asked  Ike. 

"  David  Rigby ;  and  you  ought  to  hear  him  play 
the  jews-harp,  and  sing  at  the  same  time.  He  and 
the  prophet  Nathan  don't  quarrel  so  much  as  they 
did,  and  Tubal  Cain  has  just  put  new  handles  to  a 
pair  of  Bathsheba's  flat-irons." 

"  How  pleasant  it  is  to  know  these  old  people, 
who  lived  so  far  back  in  antipathy ! "  said  Mrs. 
Partington,  humoring  him. 

"  Yes  ;  but  they  won't  all  allow  that  they  are  the 
ones.  There's  Noah,  now,  who  lives  up  there  by 
the  creek, — Simms  the  blacksmith,  —  he  won't 
own  it,  except  when  there  comes  a  very  high  tide 
on  the  creek ;  and  then  he  sings  out  for  Ham  to 
hurry  up  and  get  every  thing  snug  into  the  ark." 


146  IKE   PARTINGTON. 

"Did  you  know  any  thing  about  the  Indian 
war  ? "  said  Ike. 

"Yes.  Know?  why,  Lord  bless  you,  I  was 
round,  wasn't  I  ?  And  when  the  Miller  family  was 
killed  by  the  Indians,  I  helped  bring  'em  to." 

"  What !  did  you  recussitate*  them  ? "  asked 
Mrs.  Partington. 

"  Yes  ;  but  it  was  a  very  difficult  thing  to  do. 
We  had  to  boil  'em,  and  then  lay  'em  away  to  cool 
before  we  could  put  'em  together." 

"  But  didn't  they  suffer  ?  "  she  queried. 

"  No :  only  one,  who  complained  of  a  stiff  neck 
because  he  had  cooled  off  too  quick." 

The  weariness  of  restraint  was  relieved,  by 
this  and  other  means,  until  Ike  got  well,  and  was 
permitted  to  take  his  place  among  the  boys  again, 
much  to  his  and  their  satisfaction. 

About  that  time  Sheldon's  big  hog  was  killed, 
which  caused  a  great  sensation  among  the  boys. 
The  writer  here  trembles  as  he  approaches  the 
incident  which  he,  as  a  faithful  historian  or  deline- 
ator, must  describe,  but  dreads ;  like  one  who 
seeks  for  something  offensive  in  the  dark,  but 
shudders  lest  he  find  it.  The  fight  at  Sheldon's  is 
so  mixed  up  with  the  butchery  of  the  hog,  that 


WAR    BREWING.  147 


quite  a  bloody  tinge  is  given  to  it.  It  was  Siah 
Tibbetts,  a  full-grown  man,  with  whiskers  as  big 
as  a  quart-bowl,  who  stirred  up  a  muss  betwixt 
Ike  and  Joe  Moody.  They  were,  up  to  that  mo- 
ment, two  of  the  best  friends  in  the  world.  When 
Ike  came  up  to  see  the  hog  dressed,  Tibbetts 
said,  — 

"Now  say  it  to  his  face." 

Joe  laughed,  and  put  his  hands  in  his  pockets. 

"  You  darsn't  say  it,"  continued  Siah. 

"  Say  what  ?  "  said  Ike,  reddening. 

"  Well,  if  he  don't  choose  to  tell  it,  I  don't  see 
why  I  should;  but  if  anybody  said  behind  my 
back,  that  my  aunt  or  mother  wasn't  better  than 
she  should  be,  I'd  wop  him." 

"  Did  you  say  so  ?  "  said  Ike,  looking  excited. 

"  P'raps  he  didn't  say  it  in  them  very  words ; 
but  some  folks  says  as  much  by  looks  as  they  do 
by  speech,  and  that's  what's  the  matter  with  him." 

Joe  heard  all  this  without  replying ;  while  Ike 
glared  at  him  with  the  ferocity  of  an  irate  hen. 

"It  may  be  all  right,"  continued  Siah,  "to  say 
that  if  your  aunt  had  been  a  man  she  would  have 
been  your  uncle  ;  but  that's  just  as  folks  think." 

Ike  doubled  up  his  fists  as  big  as  cent  buns, 
and  looked  as  mad  as  a  March  hare. 


148  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

"Then,  again,  there  may  be  no  harm  in  one's 
saying  that  he  hopes  a  fellow  may  be  better  than 
his  grandmother:  it  depends  upon  the  meaning 
that's  put  onto  it,  and  'f  I  was  you  I'd  ask  him 
what  he  meant." 

There's  no  meaner  thing  under  heaven  than  a 
man  —  or  one  who  calls  himself  a  man  —  who 
will  wickedly  set  to  quarrelling  two  boys  that 
have  always  been  friends.  Poor  Ike,  too  angry 
to  think  of  the  absurdity  of  what  Siah  had  been 
saying,  and  of  the  unlikelihood  of  Joe's  having 
made  the  remarks  insinuated,  had  worked  himself 
up  to  a  very  tempest  of  passion.  He  could  not 
contain  himself;  and,  stepping  up  to  Joe,  he 
said,  — 

"  Did  you  say  that  about  me  ? " 

"  Say  what  ? "  yelled  Joe. 

"  I  don't  care  what :  have  you  been  saying  any 
thing  ? " 

"  I've  said  a  good  many  things." 

"Then  you  are  a  sneak." 

"  You  are  another." 

Siah  laughed,  which  made  Ike  almost  howl,  and 
Joe  was  stirred.  Then  they  looked  ugly  at  each 
other,  and  walked  round  and  round  with  bent  fists 


THE    FIRST   BLOW.  149 

and  knitted  brows,  like  two  young  crowers  in  a 
barn-yard  watching  for  a  chance  to  pitch  in. 
They  were  so  little  used  to  it  that  they  didn't 
know  how  to  begin  ;  but  the  miserable  tempter, 
Siah,  was  a  ready  prompter. 

"  Put  a  chip  on  your  hat,  Ike,  and  dare  him  to 
knock  it  off,"  said  he. 

Ike  picked  up  a  chip,  and  placed  it  on  his  hat. 
"  Now  you  just  knock  that  off,"  he  cried. 

It  was  a  terrific  spectacle  to  see  those  two 
giants  pitted  against  each  other,  their  collision 
depending  on  the  violent  removal  of  a  chip  from 
one's  hat !  On  such  trifles  do  great  events 
often  depend.  Siah  —  the  contemptible  fellow !  — 
winked  at  Joe,  who,  in  imitation  of  Napoleon 
when  he  dispersed  the  mob  of  Paris  by  firing 
shotted  guns  first,  struck  Ike  instead  of  the  chip, 
and  he  fell  in  the  dirt.  But  he  aroused  a  lion 
by  doing  this ;  and,  recovering  his  feet,  Ike  went 
for  his  assailant.  Joe  was  of  good  pluck;  but 
he  was  no  match  for  Ike,  who,  backed  by  Siah, 
and  filled  with  rage,  seemed  as  large  again  as  he 
was.  Joe  saw,  perhaps,  this  difference  of  size, 
and  turned  to  run,  going  towards  a  little  rill  that 
flowed  along  across  the  road  into  a  field  opposite. 


I5O  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

Just  as  he  reached  this  Ike  overtook  him,  and 
pushed  him  in,  from  which  he  crawled  and  went 
home. 

It  is  painful  to  record  a  scene  like  this ;  but  the 
introduction  of  a  brook  of  water  at  the  close 
seems  to  soften  the  sanguinary  feature,  and  ren- 
ders it  less  like  those  descriptions  given  by  the 
writers-up  of  great  battles  on  their  termination. 
So  Ike  went  home  a  victor,  though  somehow 
he  felt  meanly  about  it.  Wellington,  the  great 
soldier,  said  that  the  next  worst  thing  to  a  great 
defeat  was  a  great  victory ;  and  Ike  felt  this  on  a 
small  scale.  Mrs.  Partington  saw  his  disturbed 
looks. 

"  What  is  the  matter,  dear  ? "  she  said. 

"  Nothing,"  he  replied,  in  a  surly  tone. 

"Nothing?"  looking  him  over:  "don't  try  to 
keep  it  from  me ;  for  I  know  better,  with  the  dirt 
on  your  jacket.  Tell  me  this  minute." 

"Joe  Moody  struck  me." 

"What  for?" 

"  Only  because  I  told  him  to  knock  a  chip  off 
of  my  hat." 

"  And  did  you  brook  the  outrage  ? " 

"No,  I  brooked  him." 


MAKING    IT    UP. 


He  confessed  the  whole  to  her,  and  she  then 
showed  him  the  folly  and  wickedness  of  boys 
quarrelling,  her  spectacles  radiant  with  wisdom 
and  kindness ;  informing  him  that  though  courage 
was  a  good  thing,  and  the  power  to  back  it  excel- 
lent, it  was  no  proof  of  either  to  put  chips  on 
hats  for  other  boys  to  knock  off.  Then  she  sent 
him  to  bed,  to  dream  of  his  great  battle ;  but  the 
dream  was  not  pleasant,  nor  when  he  got  up  next 
day  were  his  waking  thoughts  any  more  so.  He 
felt  ashamed,  because  he  saw  through  the  trick  of 
Siah,  and  was  provoked  to  think  that  he  had  been 
made  a  fool  of.  He  had  lost  a  friend,  for  which 
he  was  sorry  ;  but  his  pride  would  not  allow  him  to 
make  a  motion  towards  reconciliation. 

The  next  day,  or  the  next  evening,  accident 
brought  about  what  a  month  of  studied  effort 
might  not  have  done.  A  dozen  of  the  boys,  in- 
cluding Ike  and  Joe,  had  been  down  town  to  see 
or  do  something,  and  were  returning  towards  the 
Corner,  when  first  one  and  then  another  of  the 
boys  would  drop  out  at  his  own  gate,  until  the  two 
foes  were  left  together.  They  had  not  spoken  all 
the  evening,  and  now  were  going  side  by  side,  the 
last  of  the  party.  They  walked  on  in  silence,  at 
first,  until  Ike  said,  — 


152  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

"Joe." 

"What?" 

"  I've  been  a  fool." 

"  I  know  it." 

"  But  I  won't  be  so  any  more.     I'm  sorry." 

"  What  are  you  sorry  for  ?  " 

"  Sorry  you  struck  me." 

"And  I'm  sorry  you  pushed  me  into  the  water." 

"Well,  let's  make  it  up." 

"Agreed." 

So  they  chatted  along  as  if  they  had  never  felt 
angry  with  each  other ;  and  Ike  slept  sweetly  that 
night,  with  a  peaceful  dream,  giving  Joe,  the  next 
morning,  three  doughnuts,  which  he  had  taken 
from  Mrs.  Partington's  stores,  as  a  peace-offering ; 
and  Joe  gave  him  three  white  alley  marbles  as  a 
like  sacrifice.  Depend  upon  it,  there  is  no  emo- 
tion of  which  the  heart  is  capable  that  carries  with 
it  such  a  sense  of  happiness  as  that  of  making  up 
after  a  quarrel.  Both  the  little  fellows  felt  thus ; 
and  this  is  the  moral  of  the  tragic  episode  which 
has  been  here  described. 


THE   SKATING-SEASON.  153 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

RACE  WITH  THE  TEACHER. BIG  ON  ICE. COAST- 
ING ON  CRUFT'S  HILL.  —  THE  "  RED  FAWN  "  AND 
"KING  OF  THE  COAST."  —  MOUNTING  THE  DRIFT. 

—  IKE  TRIUMPHANT. GRUM  OFF   HIS   LEGS. 

BOYS  WILL  BE  BOYS. 

IKE  couldn't  have  told,  for  the  life  of  him,  when 
winter  began,  so  little  was  he  expecting  it.  It 
came  very  slyly,  without  making  any  fuss  about  it. 
While  he  was  doing  up  the  autumnal  fun,  and  be- 
fore he  knew  it,  the  creek  had  a  coating  of  ice 
upon  it  half  an  inch  thick ;  and  the  old  cellar  was 
frozen  over  so  hard,  that  the  boys  could  slide  upon 
it,  and  make  "tidly  benders,"  without  any  more 
accident  than  sometimes  breaking  through  the  ice 
and  wetting  their  feet.  The  frogs  had  gone  long 
before;  for  frogs,  though  cold-blooded,  disappear 
before  cold  weather,  but  come  out  bravely  in  the 
spring,  like  fashionable  folks,  but  they  never 
change  their  fashions.  The  winds  blew  cold  over 


154  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

the  creek;  and  Captain  Bob's  boats  were  drawn 
up,  except  "  The  Jolly  Robin,"  which  the  ice  had 
caught  before  he  could  see  to  it,  and  now  lay  in  a 
cradle  like  the  vessels  that  get  frozen  in  at  the 
North  Pole.  So  Ike  and  the  boys  thought  when 
they  found  it  out,  and  thought,  too,  what  fine  fun  it 
would  be  to  build  a  house  over  it,  "  make  believe  " 
it  was  Arctic  night,  dress  up  in  fur  jackets,  eat 
candles,  and  do  as  the  explorers  in  the  ice-regions 
do !  They  debated  this  ;  but  there  were  some 
obstacles  in  the  way,  and  so  they  abandoned  it. 

As  soon  as  the  creek  froze  over  hard  enough, 
then  came  the  skaters,  and  the  surface  was  made 
lively  by  them.  The  new  teacher  was  a  capital 
skater.  He  came  up  on  the  creek  the  first  half- 
holiday,  and  challenged  the  boys  to  try  a  race  with 
him. 

"  I'll  give  a  dime,"  said  he,  "  to  the  boy  that  will 
beat  me." 

The  whole  school  was  there.  They  all  skated 
slowly  up  the  creek  to  the  swimming-pool  of  sum- 
mer, and  then  started  down  ;  and  such  skating! 

"  Hurrah  !  "  shouted  the  boys. 

At  first  only  ;  for  they  soon  found  that  they 
needed  all  their  breath  to  enable  them  to  keep  up 


RACE  WITH  HIS  MASTER.          155 

with  the  master.  He  beat  them  all,  the  first  race  ; 
and  now  they  challenged  him  to  try  it  again.  He 
agreed  to  it,  and  they  skated  up  to  take  the  same 
start  as  before. 

Now,  —  one,  two,  three,  —  go  ! 

Away  they  started  again,  but  the  boys  were  in 
better  trim.  As  they  glided  along,  however,  one 
after  one  gave  out,  until,  as  they  neared  the  goal, 
only  Ike  and  another  had  kept  up  with  the  teacher. 
Ike  was  gaining  on  him.  In  another  moment 
he  would  be  even  with  him ;  in  another,  perhaps 
pass  him,  when  his  skate-strap  parted,  caught 
under  the  iron,  and  Ike  pitched  towards  the 
teacher  like  a  battering-ram,  catching  hold  of  his 
coat-tails  as  he  fell ;  and  in  an  instant  both  of  them 
went  rolling  along  the  ice.  The  teacher's  hat  tore 
away,  as  if  it  were  eager  to  keep  up  the  race 
with  the  other  boy,  who  went  over  the  course. 
The  teacher  was  much  provoked,  until  he  learned 
how  it  happened;  and  then  he  laughed,  telling 
Ike  he  would  be  careful  how  he  challenged  him 
again,  as  he  had  proved  such  a  good  skater,  and 
gave  him  the  promised  dime,  which  Ike  generously 
shared  with  the  other  fellow. 

Soon  the  snow  covered  the  hill  and  the  creek. 


156  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

The  skating  was  destroyed,  and  sleds  of  all 
kinds  began  to  appear.  There  were  short  sleds 
and  long  sleds,  broad  sleds  and  narrow  sleds,  old 
sleds  and  new  sleds,  sleds  painted  and  sleds  un- 
painted,  bearing  all  sorts  of  names.  Cruft's  Hill 
was  a  famous  "  coast "  for  the  boys  of  River- 
town.  It  was  a  long  and  gentle  slope  to  the  edge 
of  the  creek  ;  and  along  the  bank  of  the  latter  ran 
a  fence  designed  to  keep  the  cattle  from  straying 
away  around  the  shore.  There  was  a  slight  rise 
of  the  ground  before  reaching  the  fence,  which 
checked  the  speed  of  the  coasters,  and  prevented 
them  from  injuring  themselves. 

One  night  there  began  a  tremendous  snow- 
storm, before  which  all  the  other  snow-storms  of 
the  season  had  been  just  nothing  at  all,  and  which 
lasted  two  days.  The  snow  piled  up  in  huge  drifts 
as  high  as  a  man ;  and  some  small  houses  were 
entirely  covered  with  it.  The  roads  were  so  filled 
with  the  drift,  that  the  people  had  to  turn  out  with 
cattle  and  big  ox-sleds  in  order  to  make  a  path ; 
and  several  days  passed  before  there  was  any  more 
coasting  on  the  hill.  But  the  weather  moderated, 
the  snow  settled  down,  and  soon  the  sleds  were  all 
out  again.  The  wind,  blowing  through  an  opening 


RED    FAWN    AT    PREMIUM. 


between  the  boards,  had  made  a  drift  as  high  as 
the  fence  itself,  which  rose  to  a  tall  peak  inside  it, 
leaving  an  open  space  between  the  drift  and  the 
fence.  This  drift,  which  had  a  wide  base  in  addi- 
tion to  the  rise  alluded  to,  presented  an  obstacle 
which  all  tried  to  get  over  ;  but  not  one  succeeded. 
The  best  sleds  ran  only  to  the  foot  of  the  drift, 
and  could  rise  no  higher. 

A  boy  named  Jim  Draper  had  come  from  Bos- 
ton on  a  visit  a  short  time  before,  and  had 
brought  his  sled  with  him.  It  was  of  elegant 
workmanship,  painted  superbly  in  red  and  gold, 
and  had  the  name  "  Red  Fawn  "  on  the  sides. 
The  boys  admired  it,  feeling  willing  to  admit  them- 
selves and  their  sleds  beaten,  even  before  they 
tried  it  on  the  coast.  It  was,  indeed,  very  fast; 
and,  as  it  flashed  in  the  sun  while  running  down 
hill,  they  cheered  it,  and  admitted  that  it  was  the 
"boss  sled"  of  the  whole,  though  it  could  not  get 
over  the  big  snow-drift  down  by  the  fence.  Ike 
did  not  see  it  in  the  same  light  that  the  rest  did, 
but  went  down  to  consult  Captain  Bob.  He  had 
seen  a  large  old  sled  hanging  up  in  the  captain's 
barn,  and  had  heard  the  old  fellow  praise  it. 

"  Is  that  sled  swift,  Captain  ?  "  said  he. 


158  IKE    PARTINGTON. 


"  Swift  ?  That  isn't  the  word  for  it.  She  can 
fly." 

"  Can  she  ?     When  did  she  ever  fly  ? " 

"  Well,  it  was  a  good  many  years  ago,  and  when 
I  lived  with  old  Squire  Furber,  up  in  the  moun- 
tains. I  had  been  out  one  day  to  get  some  brush, 
when,  just  as  I  was  hauling  it  home  on  that  'ere 
very  sled,  I  heard  some  wolves  yelp ;  and  they 
were  pretty  near  too.  So  I  started  to  run,  but 
they  come  nearer;  and,  just  as  I  got  to  the  brow  of 
a  steep  hill,  they  were  almost  upon  me.  I  jumped 
onto  the  sled,  and  let  her  go.  And  she  did  go ! 
I  never  see  sich  going  as  that  was.  Why,  Lor' 
bless  you !  in  two  minutes  the  wolves  were  out  of 
sight ;  and,  when  I  got  down  to  the  farm,  them 
runners  was  so  hot  that  they  sissed  in  the  snow." 

"  Think  she'll  go  so  now  ? "  asked  Ike  eagerly. 

"  I  dessay,  but  I  haven't  tried  her  speed  lately ; 
but,  every  time  I  take  her  out,  it  seems  as  if  she 
kinder  twitched  to  get  away,  and  I  can  scacely 
keep  her  from  my  heels." 

"  Well,  will  you  lend  her  to  me  ? " 

"What  for?" 

"  Why,  to  run  down  Cruft's  Hill  with  that  Bos- 
ton fellow,  who  thinks  he  has  got  a  sled  that  can 
beat  all  creation." 


THE    CAPTAINS    SLED.  159. 

"  Yes,  you  can  take  her ;  but  be  sure  you  beat 
him,"  said  the  captain,  smiling. 

Ike  promised,  and  started  with  the  sled,  which 
was  an  old-looking  affair  enough  ;  and  the  captain, 
who  couldn't  help  joking,  had  told  him  what  he 
had  about  it  merely  for  the  fun  of  it,  and  had  not 
the  least  idea  that  his  old  sled  could  run  at  all. 
It  was  a  creaky  and  rough  affair,  but  seemed  to 
go  over  the  snow  easily;  and  Ike,  who  had  be- 
lieved all  that  the  captain  had  told  about  her  good 
qualities,  dragged  her  up  to  the  hill  where  "  The 
Red  Fawn  "  still  was  beating  all  the  other  sleds. 
Pulling  his  sled  over  the  fence,  and  dragging  it 
slowly  up  the  hill,  he  was  greeted  with  a  shout  of 
laughter  when  he  reached  the  top. 

"  What  have  you  got  there  ? "  cried  one. 

"  Here  comes  Noah's  ark,"  said  another. 

"  What  do  you  ask  for  slabs  ? "  shouted  a  third. 

"What  are  you  going  to  do  with  that  sand- 
dragger  ? "  asked  the  fourth. 

"  What's  her  name  ?  "  put  in  Jim  Draper,  laugh- 
ing heartily. 

"Her  name  is  'The  King  of  the  Coast,'"  re- 
plied Ike,  "and  she's  going  to  beat  all  the  sleds 
on  this  hill." 


l6o  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

"Ha!  ha!  ha!"  they  all  shouted  in  chorus  at 
this. 

"Then  get  out  of  the  way,"  said  Ike. 

"'Twill  come  to  pieces  before  you  get  to  the 
bottom." 

"  You'd  better  get  your  life  insured." 

"We'll  follow  on,  and  pick  up  the  pieces." 

These  were  the  jeers  from  the  boys  on  the  hill ; 
but  Ike  didn't  care. 

"Say,"  said  Ike  to  Draper,  "suppose  you  go 
down  first,  so  that  I  can  see  how  you  do  it." 

"No,  sir,"  he  replied :  "  I  don't  run  with  such  a 
barge  as  that." 

"  Well,  then,  here  I  go ! "  and,  giving  a  short 
run,  he  threw  himself  on  the  sled,  and  dashed 
down  the  hill  with  the  speed  of  a  racer. 

From  laughing,  the  boys  looked  on  with  silent 
wonder  to  see  the  time  he  made.  He  increased  in 
swiftness  as  he  flew  along  the  icy  track.  Down, 
down  he  went,  until  there  arose  before  him  the 
steep  drift  which  had  defied  all  efforts  to  get  to 
the  top  of  it.  He  ran  over  the  little  rise  at  the 
foot  of  it  easily ;  and  then,  dashing  up  the  bank  of 
snow  in  full  sight,  he  disappeared  from  view  be- 
yond ! 


KING   OF   THE    COAST.  163 

The  boys  —  all  but  Draper  —  shouted  "Hur- 
rah "  for  victorious  Ike ;  but  where  was  the  victor  ? 
They  expected  to  see  him  come  out  to  receive 
their  congratulations,  but  he  didn't ;  and,  running 
down,  they  found  that  the  sled  had  dropped  down 
between  the  snow-drift  and  the  fence,  while  Ike 
had  been  pitched  upon  the  fence  beyond,  and  had 
just  concluded  to  breathe  again  as  they  found 
him.  The  way  they  cheered  him  and  cheered  the 
old  sled,  which  they  now  called  "  The  King  of  the 
Coast,"  soon  brought  him  back  to  his  feelings ; 
but  Draper  went  off  as  mad  as  a  hatter  because 
the  fickle  crowd  had  left  his  sled  to  patronize  the 
"barge." 

"The  King"  maintained  its  honors,  and  all 
were  allowed  to  go  down  on  it ;  but  no  one  was 
ambitious  enough  to  try  the  drift  at  the  bottom 
again.  As  they  were  coasting,  Mr.  Grum,  who 
had  been  across  the  field  on  some  errand,  was  re- 
turning, and  was  picking  his  way  down  the  hill  so 
busily  that  he  did  not  hear  the  sound  of  "  Uller ! 
uller ! "  which  Ike  shouted  as  he  moved  swiftly 
along  with  his  back  next  the  sky.  In  an  in- 
stant he  and  Ike  were  back  to  back,  Mr.  Grum's 
feet  in  the  air,  and  kicking  about  as  if  they  were 


164  IKE   PARTINGTON. 

trying  to  dance  a  hornpipe  on  nothing.  He  was 
very  much  mortified  and  very  angry ;  the  more  so 
as  Mrs.  Partington,  who  had  heard  that  Ike  had 
been  hurt,  and  come  out  to  see  about  it,  was 
standing  where  she  witnessed  the  accident. 

"Well,"  said  she  to  him,  "I  never  saw  any 
thing  like  that  before." 

"  Probably  not,  ma'am,"  replied  he,  "  because  I 
slid  down  backwards ;  but  no  thanks  to  that  boy 
of  yours  that  I  was  not  killed.  And,  if  I  had  my 
way,  I'd  put  'em  all  in  Bridewell." 

Captain  Bob  had  also  come  up  to  see  how  Ike 
had  done  with  his  sled,  and  stood  leaning  on  the 
fence,  chewing  a  straw. 

"  Nonsense,  Grum  ! "  said  he,  "  that's  nothing 
to  growl  about.  What  would  you  say  if  you  were 
served  as  the  old  fellow  was  who  weighed  four 
hundred  pounds,  and  was  caught  just  as  you  were, 
and  carried  down  hill  and  across  a  street,  right 
through  the  front  of  a  brick  four-story  house,  and 
landed  on  the  supper-table  ?  You'd  have  some 
reason  to  complain,  should  such  a  thing  happen ; 
but,  as  it  didn't,  what's  the  use  of  growling  ?  The 
boy  got  the  worst  of  it." 

"  I  hope  so,"  said  Grum  as  he  moved  away. 


BOYS    WILL    BE    BOYS.  165 

Mrs.  Partington,  after  some  smiling  remark  to 
Captain  Bob  about  "  the  life  and  animosity "  of 
boys  who  will  be  boys  in  spite  of  all  efforts  to 
make  them  any  thing  else,  also  moved  homeward ; 
and  the  captain,  having  secured  his  sled  for  some 
service,  followed  after,  saying  to  Ike,  — 

"  Didn't  I  tell  you  she'd  fly  ?  " 

But  he  couldn't  see  into  it  exactly.  The  old 
sled  maintained  its  reputation  as  "King  of  the 
Coast "  in  many  a  trial  after  that ;  and  Ike  told 
the  boys  the  story  of  Captain  Bob  and  the  wolves ; 
but  they  didn't  quite  believe  it,  though  they  didn't 
doubt  the  sled. 


1 66  IKE    PARTINGTON. 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

THE    DROWNED    BOY. CAPTAIN     BOB*S     EFFORT. 

THE   FAITH   THAT   KILLS     SNAKES. NORTH    END 

AND    SOUTH    END. THE    SNOW-FORT.  —  BATTLE 

OF    NEW   ORLEANS. — REVERSING   HISTORY. 

IT  must  not  be  supposed,  from  the  stories  told 
about  the  creek,  that  its  happenings  were  all 
pleasant,  and  had  no  drawbacks.  There  was,  upon 
that  little  creek,  almost  as  great  a  variety  of  inci- 
dents as  the  broad  ocean  could  show,  —  storm  and 
calm,  rain  and  shine,  commerce,  shipwreck,  and 
death,  —  one  change  following  another ;  the  resem- 
blance, however,  not  so  plain,  because  the  scene 
was  so  much  smaller  in  its  scope.  There  was  a 
fearful  calamity  which  happened  upon  the  creek, 
following  close  upon  the  incident  described  in  the 
last  chapter,  that  gave  sadness  to  the  whole  com- 
munity of  Rivertown. 

During  the  winter,  when  the  ice  upon  the  creek 
was  covered  with   snow,  the   creek   was   made  a 


TRACK    OF    PERIL.  l6/ 

highway  of;  and  huge  loaded  teams  and  sleighs 
crossed  and  recrossed  it  in  many  directions. 
When  firmly  frozen,  these  paths  were  as  safe  as 
the  land ;  but  on  one  spot,  opposite  the  flood-gates, 
where  the  tide  rushed  in,  it  merely  skimmed  over. 
Between  this  skimming  and  the  firm  ice  there  was 
often  a  crust  frozen  a  little  harder,  but  not  strong 
enough  to  bear  a  man ;  and  this  was  carefully 
avoided. 

One  cold  morning,  as  Ike  was  walking  upon  the 
creek,  he  saw  little  Johnny  Cross  on  his  way  to 
school  on  the  other  side,  where  the  red  belfry  rose 
above  the  trees,  and  he  could  hear  the  bell  ringing 
as  he  went  along.  He  was  too  far  away  for  Ike 
to  hail  him,  and  warn  him  of  his  danger ;  but  he 
was  moving  towards  the  thin  ice,  swinging  his 
satchel  over  his  head  as  he  went.  Ike  stood  still, 
and  watched  him,  a  mere  speck  out  there  upon  the 
ice  ;  for  he  was  only  a  very  small  boy.  Others 
from  the  other  side  had  seen  the  little  fellow's 
danger  too  ;  for  they  were  down  on  the  strong  ice, 
waving  him  back,  but  he  evidently  did  not  under- 
stand them.  He  kept  right  on.  He  was  now 
crossing  the  ice  that  was  strong  enough  to  bear  a 
weight  as  light  as  his ;  but  beyond  was  the  weak 


1 68  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

ice  that  had  frozen  during  the  turn  of  the  tide. 
The  gestures  of  those  on  the  other  side  were  more 
earnestly  made ;  and  Ike  could  hear,  against  the 
wind,  their  cries  of  remonstrance.  It  seemed  as 
if  Johnny  had  also  heard  them ;  for  he  stopped 
in  a  sort  of  uncertain  manner  for  an  instant,  and 
then  took  a  step  forward  again.  That  fatal  step  ! 
The  thin  ice  broke  beneath  his  tread,  and  he  sank 
from  sight.  Ike  turned  back,  and  ran  scream- 
ing,— 

"  Captain  Bob !  Captain  Bob !  there's  a  boy 
drowning ! " 

" What's  that,  mother?"  said  the  captain,  as  he 
and  his  wife  sat  at  breakfast ;  but,  without  waiting 
for  her  answer,  he  rushed  to  the  door  which  over- 
looked the  creek. 

"  What  is  it  ? "  said  he,  as  he  saw  Ike. 

"  Boy  in  the  creek  !  Boy  in  the  creek  !  " 

"Where?" 

"Why,  there''  pointing  to  the  spot:  "don't  you 
see  his  cap  ? " 

The  boy  was  wild  with  excitement,  and  jumped 
up  and  down  on  the  ice,  and  wrung  his  hands  like 
a  crazy  person,  crying  all  the  while.  He  thought 
the  captain  would  never  come :  but  the  ancient 


THE    DROWNING   BOY.  169 

mariner  only  waited  to  kick  off  his  boots,  and 
throw  his  coat  to  his  wife ;  and  then  he  rushed 
over  the  ice  in  his  stocking-feet  for  the  drowning 
boy's  rescue,  throwing  off,  as  he  ran,  his  vest 
and  other  little  impediments  of  clothing.  Some 
people  from  the  other  side  had  reached  the  scene 
first,  but  they  seemed  paralyzed  with  terror. 

"  Be  lively,  boys ! "  shouted  Captain  Bob. 
"  Bring  some  boards  !  Rip  down  the  fences  !  " 

A  dozen  boys  set  off  for  boards,  which  were 
there  in  a  few  minutes,  with  more  coming ;  the 
tearing  down  of  the  fences  seeming  to  give  a 
pleasant  relief,  for  the  moment,  to  the  grief  which 
overwhelmed  them.  As  quick  as  possible  these 
boards  were  extended  over  the  ice  between  the 
drowning  boy  and  the  thick  ice :  but  there  were 
not  enough  to  bear  up  a  heavy  man;  and  so, 
though  they  worked  rapidly,  and  were  ready  to 
"rip  down"  every  thing  to  procure  boards,  there 
was  some  little  delay,  during  which  Captain  Bob 
sat,  personally,  very  coolly  upon  the  boards,  but 
chafing  with  impatience,  and  yelling  to  the  boys 
for  "more  boards." 

During  this  time  an  occasional  glimpse  was  had 
of  the  struggling  boy  in  the  water,  who  had  not 


I/O  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

sunk;  and  hope  was  strong  that  he  might  be 
reached  in  season  to  save  him.  The  boards  were 
brought  rapidly ;  and  now  another  volunteered, 
who  joined  the  captain  on  the  boards ;  and  they 
both  worked  their  way  out  to  where  they  could 
see  the  boy  near  the  surface,  and  his  little  cap 
lying  on  the  broken  ice. 

Some  impulsive  people  had  thought  of  "The 
Jolly  Robin  "  as  she  lay  frozen  into  the  ice,  and 
after  great  effort  had  dragged  her  to  the  spot, 
covered,  outside  and  in,  with  ice,  and  launched 
her  into  the  water.  The  volunteer  assistant  to 
Captain  Bob  had  given  his  watch  and  papers  to 
one  of  the  most  nervous  of  the  by-standers, 
to  keep  for  him ;  and  this  person,  for  what  reason 
could  not  be  seen,  was  the  first  to  jump  into  the 
boat.  He  was  followed  by  one  or  two  others, 
when  down  she  went,  like  a  chunk  of  ice,  and 
the  gold  watch  and  the  papers  were  ruined. 

A  cry  of  "  SEE  !  "  ran  through  the  crowd,  and  all 
looked  towards  the  drowning  boy.  A  little  hand 
was  seen  raised  above  the  water,  which  paused 
for  a  moment,  then  moved  gradually  forward  and 
disappeared,  the  last  motion  of  the  drowning  boy 
perceptible. 


CAPTAIN    BOB  S    FAITH.  I /I 

He  had  been  in  the  water  half  an  hour  before 
the  captain  and  his  ally  reached  him ;  and  when 
he  was  taken  out  he  was  quite  dead.  He  was 
carried  to  the  nearest  house  by  Captain  Bob,  and 
every  thing  done  to  revive  him,  but  in  vain. 

It  was  a  very  sad  event,  but  the  incidents  that 
crowd  upon  a  boy  fortunately  prevent  his  dwelling 
long  upon  any  one  ;  and  therefore,  beyond  the 
moment,  the  tide  of  life  swept  on  as  usual,  and 
the  affair  was  only  recalled  as  the  old  "Jolly 
Robin  "  lay  all  winter  on  the  spot  where  she  sank, 
and  the  little  cap  rested  on  the  ice,  serving  as 
reminders  of  the  melancholy  affair,  till  the  spring 
came,  and  then  all  that  was  painful  vanished 
from  sight  and  memory. 

"  Were  you  cold  out  there  on  the  ice  ? "  Ike 
asked  of  Captain  Bob  next  day. 

"  Did  you  never  read,"  said  the  captain  gravely, 
"  in  the  Testament,  that,  if  you  have  faith  of  the 
right  brand,  nothing  shall  harm  ye?  —  and  how 
Paul  got  bit  by  a  snake,  you  know,  and  he  jerked 
it  off  into  the  fire,  and  it  didn't  hurt  him." 

Ike  didn't  think  he  had  read  it. 

"Then  you'd  better;  for  there's  a  principle  in 
that  which  applies  to  this  'ere  case,  or  any  case, 


1/2  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

where  a  man  is  chock  full  of  the  wish  to  help 
somebody  else.  Fire,  water,  weather,  exposure, 
nothing'll  hurt  him.  Cold !  why,  bless  you,  I 
didn't  feel  nigh  so  cold  as  I  did  where  I  sat  at 
breakfast  when  you  called  me  to  save  that  drown- 
ding  boy." 

"Yes,"  replied  Ike;  "but  you  might  have  got 
drowned  yourself,  and  wouldn't  you ,  be  harmed 
then?" 

"  No  ;  for  the  feeling  would  continue  the  same, 
though  the  body  drownded.  I  tell  you,  youngster, 
that  no  harm  can  happen  to  a  man  that  does  right. 
That's  the  faith  to  kill  snakes  with." 

Ike  didn't  understand  it  exactly;  but  he  re- 
spected the  captain's  grave  look,  and  went  out 
with  a  profound  admiration  for  one  who  had  done 
so  brave  a  deed,  shying  a  chunk  of  ice  at  Grum's 
cat  which  sat  sunning  herself  on  the  fence. 

The  boys  of  the  North  and  South  "  Ends "  of 
Rivertown  were  hostile  to  each  other  by  inherit- 
ance and  instinct,  and  Ike  had  dropped  right  into 
the  North-End  faction.  From  early  time  numer- 
ous battles  had  taken  place  between  the  two,  with 
an  historical  balance  in  favor  of  the  North  End. 
The  South-End  boys,  however,  were  clamorous  in 


BATTLE  OF  NEW  ORLEANS.         1/3 

making  the  assertion  that  the  South  End  could 
"lick"  the  North  End,  and  give  them  odds. 
There  had  not,  however,  been  any  demonstration 
for  a  number  of  years.  Both  factions  attended 
the  same  school,  studied  the  same  lessons,  played 
together  and  associated  very  pleasantly  on  per- 
sonal grounds  ;  but  when  the  subject  of  "  who  was 
best "  was  broached,  then  talk  grew  loud,  and  brag 
boisterous. 

The  winter  was  very  favorable  for  great  games 
of  snowballing;  but  such  are  usually  played  on 
the  principle  of  the  Irishman  at  Donnybrook  fair, 
who,  when  he  saw  a  head,  hit  it.  So  the  snow- 
balls flew  at  random,  and  everybody  got  hit. 
There  was  an  immense  drift,  covering  acres,  over 
in  a  field  near  the  schoolhouse ;  and  a  young  en- 
gineer, who  did  not  dream  that  he  was  any  such 
thing,  suggested  that  there  would  be  a  "  bang-up 
place"  for  building  a  snow  fort.  They  had  got 
along  in  their  history  to  the  Battle  of  New  Or- 
leans ;  and  the  8th  of  January  was  approaching, 
the  anniversary  of  the  day  on  which  that  eventful 
battle  was  fought. 

The  suggestion  of  a  fort,  in  connection  with 
their  history,  wrought  the  whole  school  up  to  a 


1/4  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

high  pitch  of  excitement.  "  A  fort !  "  they  cried, 
"by  all  means  !  "  and  then,  even  before  it  became 
fully  decided  to  have  the  fort,  the  question  arose, 
and  was  violently  discussed,  as  to  who  should  be 
the  commanders.  The  most  desirable  position 
was  that  in  the  fort,  of  course ;  and  who  should 
personate  Gen.  Jackson,  was  matter  for  profound 
deliberation.  And  the  choice  of  Gen.  Pakenham 
was  equally  momentous  ;  for  though  he  was  to  be 
defeated  according  to  history,  he  was  the  general 
of  the  British  forces,  and  an  object  of  deep  in- 
terest. 

The  discussion  waked  up  the  clannish  feeling 
on  both  sides  :  the  South-Enders  contending,  that, 
as  Jackson  was  a  Southerner,  one  of  their  side 
should  personate  him  of  course ;  and  the  North- 
Enders  were  equally  strenuous  for  one  of  their 
side,  contending  that  Jackson  went  from  the 
North,  and  had  a  brother  who  was  a  soap-boiler 
down  in  Deer  Street.  At  last  it  was  decided  by 
lot ;  a  boy  of  each  side  pulling  a  straw  out  of  a 
bundle  of  unequal  lengths,  held  by  one  who  was 
considered  impartial ;  and  the  result  was,  — 

GEN.  JACKSON        .        .        .    JOSIAH  TREAT. 
GEN.  PAKENHAM   .  IKE  PARTINGTON. 


BUILDING   THE    FORT. 


When  this  was  settled,  the  two  armies  of  equal 
numbers  were  counted  off  from  both  "  Ends,"  and 
then  was  commenced  work  on  the  fortifications. 
The  young  engineer  went  over  the  ground,  or  over 
the  snow,  and  laid  out  his  plans  with  a  genius 
worthy  of  Todleben,  or  any  other  Ben.  The 
works  combined  all  the  science  of  Bunker  Hill, 
Yorktown,  New  Orleans,  and  Sebastopol,  protected 
on  one  side  by  a  deep  brook,  on  another  by  a  tree 
and  a  rock,  while  in  front  were  deep  trenches  for 
rifle-pits,  or  snowball  depositories  ;  and  on  the 
other  side  more  trenches  for  defence  against 
assailants  on  that  side.  The  redoubt  itself  was  a 
square,  or  oblong-square,  chamber,  dug  out  of  the 
solid  drift  ;  and  the  ramparts  were  formed  of  the 
blocks  of  snow,  which  had  been  cut  square  on  pur- 
pose, and  hoisted  to  their  place  with  great  labor. 
A  sally-port,  for  escape  or  for  defence,  was  cut  in 
the  rear,  and  the  whole  affair  was  as  grand  as  you 
please,  and  as  strong  as  a  castle.  Port-holes  had 
been  left  all  around,  not  for  big  guns,  but  to  en- 
able the  occupants  of  the  fort  to  see  the  approach 
of  the  enemy,  which  they  could  not  very  well  do 
through  the  solid  walls.  The  teacher,  who  knew 
what  was  going  on,  and  rather  liked  the  practical 


IKE    PARTINGTON. 


historical  lesson,  went  over  to  see  the  fort,  and 
said,  that,  of  all  the  forts  he  had  ever  seen,  he  had 
never  seen  one  like  this  before,  which  the  engineer 
thought  a  great  compliment. 

The  8th  of  January  came  upon  Saturday  ;  and 
the  news  got  round  about  the  great  fight  that  was 
to  take  place  between  the  South-Enders  under  Gen. 
Jackson,  and  the  North-Enders  under  Gen.  Paken- 
ham.  Everybody  that  could  come  determined  to 
be  there.  The  South  End  had  delegates  from 
Brimstone  Hill,  Puddle  Dock,  Pancake  Shelf, 
Heart's  Delight,  Devil's  Bend,  and  Lilac  Lane  ; 
and  the  North  End  was  represented  by  a  crowd 
from  Gravelly  Ridge,  Rope-walk  Lane,  Rock  Pas- 
ture, Clam  Corner,  Saints'  Rest,  Hard  Knock, 
and  Mumblepeg.  All  came  to  see  fair  play,  and 
the  spirit  of  the  two  parties  was  pretty  well  up. 
Captain  Bob  was  there  also,  and  gave  assurance 
to  the  North-Enders  by  telling  of  numerous  in- 
stances where  he  himself  had,  when  younger, 
"  fit  "  a  good  many  such  battles,  and  never  got 
licked. 

"But  the  North-Enders  have  got  to  be  licked," 
said  one  of  the  spectators. 

"What  for?  "  queried  the  captain. 


QUESTION    OF    HISTORY.  177 

"Because  'tis  history.  Pakenham  was  licked, 
you  know." 

"You  let  history  take  keer  of  itself.  Circum- 
stances allers  alters  cases,  and  we  can't  sometimes 
most  allers  tell  how  any  thing's  going  to  turn  out 
before  it  happens." 

"  I  don't  see  how  it  can  be  helped." 

"  Don't  you  fret,  honey.  Did  you  ever  hear 
of  Bologna,  the  great  sassage-maker,  who  the 
heathen  made  their  secretary  of  war  ?  You  never 
did  ?  Well,  in  one  of  his  battles  he  had  to  take 
a  fort,  and  loaded  his  guns  with  sassages,  and 
poured  'em  against  the  wall  so  thick  that  the 
grease  mixed  in  with  the  mortar,  and  down  the 
walls  tumbled,  when  Bologna  jest  walked  right 
in." 

"Never  heard  of  it;  but  Jackson  won  the 
battle  of  New  Orleans." 

"Don't  you  worry.  'Twill  all  come  out  right,  I 
tell  you.  And  you  had  better  read  up  on  histeri- 
cal  matters  so's  not  to  be  cornered  again." 

"  See,  they  are  going  to  begin." 

The  occupants  of  the  fort  had  hoisted  a  small 
American  flag,  which  blew  out  defiantly  on  the 
breeze.  They  had  also  two  or  three  fish-horns, 


IKE   PARTINGTON. 


which  they  were  blowing  very  fiercely.  Occasion- 
ally a  head  would  be  seen  stuck  out  of  one  of  the 
port-holes  ;  for  an  instant,  and  then  drawn  in  again 
like  a  clam's.  It  was  evident  that  the  garrison  was 
very  busy  at  the  fort. 

The  other  side  had  been  equally  busy  in  their 
preparations.  The  work  of  attack  was  all  laid 
out,  and  parties  appointed  for  particular  objects, 
such  as  skirmishers  and  sharp-shooters  ;  and  Gen. 
Pakenham,  which  was  Ike,  had  told  them  what 
to  do.  So  very  soon  the  main  body  of  the 
British  army  moved  along  the  bank  of  the  brook, 
which  was  supposed  to  be  the  Mississippi  River  ; 
while  the  skirmishers  and  sharp-shooters,  with 
their  arms  and  pockets  full  of  hard  snowballs, 
moved  up  the  gentle  hill  on  which  the  fort  was 
built.  They  were  to  begin  ;  and  then  the  main 
body  was  to  come  up,  and  attack  in  force.  But 
the  skirmishers  began  too  soon  ;  and  the  garrison 
rushed  on  them  pell-mell,  taking  two  prisoners 
who  couldn't  run  with  rubber  boots  on,  and 
pitching  three  others  into  the  snow.  They  then 
met  the  main  body  with  such  a  tremendous  fire 
that  it  was  completely  demoralized,  and  ran  down 
hill  as  fast  as  it  could  go. 


THE    COMBAT   THICKENS.  l8l 

The  South-Enders  at  this  set  up  a  great  shout- 
ing, and  were  highly  delighted.  Captain  Bob's 
friend,  who  was  a  North-Ender,  said  he  didn't 
like  to  see  the  North-End  boys  defeated,  to 
accommodate  any  old  history ;  and  he  thought 
history  was  a  great  humbug,  any  way. 

"  I  tell  ye  'twill  all  come  out  right,"  said  Cap- 
tain Bob,  "  history  or  no  history.  I  know  Jack- 
son ought  to  beat,  because  I  know  that  history 
says  he  did ;  but  then,  jest  see,  that  history  is 
sixty  years  old,  and  must  have  underwent  a 
change  by  this  time ;  and  depend  on  it,  we  shall 
see  what  we  shall  see." 

The  army  formed  again,  and  this  time  marched 
in  full  force  toward  the  redoubt.  There  was 
silence  among  the  spectators  as  the  gallant  fight- 
ers moved  up  the  hill  before  them.  It  was  like 
the  hush  before  a  storm.  Then  came  a  shrill 
voice  from  the  hill,  which  was  known  to  be  Ike's, 
crying,  "  Pitch  in !  "  and  with  a  leap  as  if  each 
one  had  just  then  felt  the  shock  of  a  battery 
behind,  they  sprang  towards  the  works.  They 
were  met  bravely.  The  snowballs  flew  thick  as 
bullets  at  Waterloo.  The  shouts  of  the  belliger- 
ents were  excited  and  loud.  Still  the  flag  waved 


1 82  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

over  the  scene,  and  Victory  withheld  her  decision. 
The  battle  raged  fiercer  and  fiercer,  and  it  was 
still  uncertain  which  way  the  fate  of  the  day 
would  be  decided,  when  Gen.  Jackson,  stepping 
into  the  long  trench,  received  a  snowball  in  the 
ear,  which  disabled  him ;  and  Gen.  Coffee  hung 
out  a  flag  of  truce  for  an  armistice  to  enable 
him  to  go  down  to  the  brook,  and  wash  his  eye, 
which  was  closed  by  a  ball. 

The  two  armies  rested  on  the  field  for  a  few 
minutes ;  and,  when  hostilities  were  resumed,  a 
party  scaled  the  parapet  by  means  of  the  tree,  as 
the  British  did  at  Bunker  Hill,  and  a  volley  of 
snowballs,  poured  in  on  the  garrison,  showed  how 
hopeless  the  contest  was.  The  flag  was  lowered, 
and  Gen.  Pakenham  was  declared  the  victor  over 
Gen.  Jackson !  Such  a  ridiculous  perversion  of 
history  no  one  ever  heard  of  before ;  but  the 
honor  of  the  North  End  was  more  to  be  regarded 
than  historical  accuracy,  and  Pakenham's  forces 
consummated  the  victory  by  singing  "  Hold  the 
Fort." 

As  soon  as  the  spectators  saw  how  the  day  was 
going,  there  was  great  commotion  among  them, 
and  quarrelsome  words  were  interchanged.  Then 


SPENT    BALLS.  183 


a  snowball  or  two  were  thrown,  then  more  snow- 
balls, and  a  general  row  seemed  imminent.  Old 
Mrs.  Luke  was  standing  looking  over  her  garden 
fence,  her  cap,  like  a  circus-tent,  rising  above  her 
features,  when  a  snow-ball,  violently  hurled,  struck 
the  cap,  tearing  it  from  her  head,  and  bearing  it 
away  with  the  strings  stretched  out  like  the  double 
train  of  a  meteor.  As  a  ball  struck  Captain  Bob, 
he  shouted  in  a  severe  voice,  — 

"If  you  don't  stop,  and  get  out  of  this,  I'll 
serve  you  as  I  did  a  man  down  here  the  other  day, 
that  I  told  to  get  out  of  the  way." 

The  captain  was  a  favorite  with  everybody,  and 
his  words  excited  their  curiosity.  He  also  was 
pound-keeper. 

"  Well,  what  did  you  do  ? "  one  asked,  after 
waiting  a  little. 

"  Why,  I  told  him  to  get  out  of  my  way,  and  he 
said  he  would  see  me  further  first ;  and  then  I 
asked  him  seriously  if  he  really  meant  so.  He 
said  he  did.  Well,  says  I,  then,  if  you  won't  get 
out  of  the  way,  I  will!  And,  by  jolly,  I  did." 

This  raised  a  laugh ;  and  with  a  cheer  for  the 
captain  the  crowd  dispersed,  the  North  End  still 
holding  the  fort,  in  spite  of  history. 


184  IKE    PARTINGTON. 


CHAPTER   XV. 

WINTER   EVENINGS. NEIGHBORLY    GATHERINGS. 

A    NIGHT     AT     MRS.     PARTINGTON's. STORY     BY 

THE  TEACHER. CAPTAIN    BOB    REGARDING     MER- 
MAIDS. 

OH  the  long  and  dreary  winter!"  Hiawatha 
says;  but  he  wouldn't  have  oh'd  so  if  he 
had  been  with  the  boys  of  Rivertown.  In  fair 
weather,  however  cold,  they  glowed  with  air  and 
exercise,  and  were  full  of  happiness.  No  oh-ing 
or  repining  about  them. 

"  I  am  glad,  dear,"  said  Mrs.  Partington  to  Ike, 
on  one  occasion  of  many  that  were  similar,  —  "I 
am  glad  to  see  you  so  dilated ;  for  our  happiness 
depends  mostly  on  how  we  enjoy  ourselves." 

"Yes'm,"  replied  Ike,  as  he  fished  round  the 
bottle,  with  his  fork,  for  the  last  preserved  cherry. 

On  cold  long  evenings  the  boys  would  visit  at 
each  other's  homes,  and  tell  stories  or  play  games, 
and  the  older  members  of  the  families  would 


THE    FEMALE   TEACHER.  185 

sometimes  join  with  them  in  reading  or  singing ; 
and  the  evenings  were  passed  by  the  boys  just  as 
agreeably  as  if  they  were  standing  on  the  street- 
corners  making  remarks  about  people  going  by, 
and  indulging  in  ridiculous  talk.  On  one  occasion 
the  boys  had  met  at  Ike's,  and  were  having  a  capi- 
tal time.  They  were  at  times  apt  to  be  noisy; 
to  which  Mrs.  Partington  made  little  objection, 
though  she  had  been  heard  to  confess  that  some- 
times she  thought  the  "  sciatic  nerve  of  her  head  " 
would  break  with  the  confusion.  Constantly  keep- 
ing in  view  the  universal  fact  that  "  boys  will  be 
boys,"  she  tolerated  their  noise  without  complaint, 
and  smiled  even  amid  her  pain.  Some  new  games 
had  been  introduced  this  evening  that  were 
particularly  boisterous,  among  which  were  "The 
Hutchinson  Family"  and  "The  Muffin-Man;"  the 
latter  requiring  considerable  muscular  exertion 
and  a  good  deal  of  voice.  The  fun  waxed  fast 
and  furious,  the  whole  party  being  on  their  feet 
in  full  cry,  when  Mrs.  Partington  raised  her  finger. 

"Hush!"  said  she,  listening:  "I  thought  I 
heard  some  one  at  the  door." 

They  were  all  still  in  an  instant,  when  the  bell 
was  heard ;  and  Mrs.  Partington,  going  to  the  door, 


1 86  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

returned  with  Miss  Fuller,  who  was  a  favorite 
teacher  in  the  Rivertown  school  which  the  boys 
attended,  and  had  come  in  for  an  evening  call. 

"  You  heard  our  noissomeness  ? "  Mrs.  Parting- 
ton  said  to  the  visitor,  smiling. 

Miss  Fuller  said  she  had  heard  the  boys  en- 
joying themselves,  and  hesitated  at  first  about 
coming  in,  for  fear  that  she  might  disturb  their 
hilarity.  She  greatly  enjoyed  seeing  boys  at  their 
sports,  and  begged  they  would  continue  just  as  if 
she  was  not  there. 

But  her  presence  was  a  damper ;  and  they  all 
came  very  suddenly  to  the  conclusion  that  they 
had  had  enough  of  roughing  it,  and  would  be 
content  to  sit  down  and  enjoy  something  more 
quiet  So  they  seated  themselves ;  and  Miss 
Fuller,  who  was  a  very  bright  and  pleasant  little 
lady,  made  the  time  pass  so  agreeably  by  her  con- 
versation, that  they  forgot  all  about  "  The  Muffin- 
Man,'*  and  were  very  happy  to  listen  to  her.  She 
told  them  a  great  many  useful  and  pretty  things  ; 
and  then  Ike,  with  a  very  eager  face,  asked  her  if 
she  could  not  tell  them  a  story. 

She  replied  that  teachers  were  nqt  very  funny 
people,  and  she  was  afraid  that  she  had  nothing 


THE  TEACHER'S  STORY.  187 

very  laughable  to  tell  them ;  but  Ike  said  they 
wanted  a  good  story,  and  didn't  care  about  its 
being  funny.  Mrs.  Partington  seconded  the  re- 
quest by  saying  that  nothing  gave  more  "jest" 
to  enjoyment  than  a  good  story  ;  and  Miss  Fuller, 
knowing  that  she  meant  "zest,"  said  she  would 
tell  them  about 

AN  ANGEL  THAT  CAME  FROM  HEAVEN  BY 
WATER. 

There  was  very  a  poor  man,  a  fisherman, 
who  lived  near  the  mouth  of  a  swift  river,  like 
our  own,  who  made  his  living  by  line  and  net, 
catching  fishes  in  the  sea  that  stretched  away 
before  him,  and  selling  them  to  people  who  lived 
in  a  large  town  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  stream 
from  him.  He  was  a  jolly  old  fellow,  even  in  his 
poverty,  though  he  could  hardly  support  himself 
and  wife,  the  only  members  of  his  family  except  a 
cat  and  a  tame  crow.  To  tell  the  truth,  he  used 
to  drink,  and  waste  his  money  in  buying  that 
which  did  him  no  good ;  and  sometimes,  when  he 
had  drank  too  much,  he  would  scold  his  wife,  and 
make  her  very  unhappy.  When  sober  he  was 
always  singing  and  joking,  and  it  was  pleasant  to 
listen  to  him. 


1 88  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

"Wife,"  he  would  sometimes  say,  "we  have  not 
as  much  money  as  some  of  our  neighbors ;  but  we 
have  a  fine  farm  out  here  on  the  sea,  and  will  get 
a  harvest  from  it  some  day." 

[Ike  and  Sim  Walters  exchanged  a  look,  as  this 
brought  up  a  memory  of  Commodore  Huntress's 
"garden."] 

One  morning,  as  the  fisherman  was  preparing 
his  lines  before  he  went  out  in  his  boat,  he  saw 
something  drifting  down  in  the  tide  which  puzzled 
him.  It  somewhat  resembled  a  boat,  but  evi- 
dently was  not  one.  It  seemed  to  be  some  rough 
boards  nailed  together,  like  an  oblong  box ;  and  it 
whirled  round  and  round  in  the  tide  that  brought 
it  towards  the  shore  where  he  was  standing.  It 
came  almost  into  the  land ;  and  then  an  eddy  took 
it,  and  bore  it  farther  out.  He  was  undecided 
whether  he  should  get  into  his  boat,  and  go  after 
it,  or  not. 

The  morning  was  very  pleasant  and  still;  and 
the  sun  shone  brightly  on  the  water,  dazzling  the 
fisherman's  eyes  as  he  gazed.  He  stood,  shading 
his  eyes  with  his  hand,  watching  the  object  as  it 
moved  here  and  there  in  the  rough  tide,  when  he 
thought  he  heard  a  faint  cry,  as  if  from  something 


A    RIVER   PRIZE.  189 


in  distress.  He  deemed  at  first  that  it  might  be  a 
cry  from  the  opposite  shore ;  but  a  moment  after- 
ward it  was  repeated,  and  this  time  it  seemed  to 
come  from  the  box. 

" That's  queer,"  said  he  to  himself:  "what 
upon  earth  can  it  be  that  makes  such  music  in 
that  curious  box?  But  I'll  soon  find  out." 

He  jumped  into  his  boat,  and  pushed  her  off 
in  pursuit  of  the  retreating  box,  which  he  soon 
reached.  If  any  one  had  been  on  the  shore  at  the 
moment,  watching  him,  they  would  have  observed 
the  start  of  surprise  he  gave,  and  heard  the  long 
whistle  which  he  sounded,  as  he  looked  at  his 
prize.  They  would  also  have  seen  the  eagerness 
with  which  he  attached  the  strange  vessel  to  his 
own  to  tow  it  ashore.  This  was  done  in  a  minute, 
and,  as  he  stepped  on  the  land,  he  cried  out,  — 

"  Wife,  wife,  make  haste  here !  here's  one  of 
our  treasures  come  to  us  !  " 

"  What  is  it  ? "  she  cried,  hastening  to  the  shore 
as  fast  as  she  could. 

"Put  on  your  spectacles,  old  lass,  and  see,"  he 
said  with  great  glee. 

"  Why,  if  it  isn't  a  baby  !  "  she  almost  screamed 
as  she  lifted  the  little  thing  from  its  strange 
cradle. 


IKE    PARTINGTON. 


" There's  a  plaything  for  you,"  said  he,  "better 
than  the  cat  and  crow,  —  a  real  live  baby,  ready- 
made  and  provided  for,"  taking,  as  he  spoke,  a 
bundle  of  baby-clothing  from  the  box. 

"'Tis  a  little  angel  from  heaven,  come  by 
water,"  she  replied. 


There  was  no  fish- 
ing that  day  for  Hake 
Myers.  His  name 
was  Tobias  Myers, 
but  people  called  him 
Hake  on  account  of 
his  profession.  "Call  me  any  thing  you  please," 
he  would  say,  "  only  don't  call  me  too  late  to  din- 
ner." He  and  his  wife  were  both  completely  car- 
ried away,  forgetting  every  thing  but  the  baby ; 
and  they  willingly  stood  watch  and  watch  in  taking 
care  of  it.  At  length  Mrs.  Hake  came  to  her 
senses  enough  to  say,  — 


THE    ANGEL    BELOVED.  1 9! 

"  Well,  but  it  isn't  ours." 

"  I  say  it  is  ours,"  replied  Hake  :  "  what  I  pick 
up  in  this  river  belongs  to  me ;  and  this  baby  is 
mine,  the  same  way." 

They  then  turned  the  baby  this  way  and  that 
way,  trying  to  find  some  name  or  word  to  show 
where  it  came  from.  Then  they  overhauled  the 
box  it  came  in,  for  the  same  object ;  but  nothing 
could  be  found.  The  box  was  roughly  made,  but 
stoutly  put  together,  pitched  at  the  corners  to 
keep  the  water  out,  and  had  evidently  been  made 
by  some  one  for  the  very  use  to  which  it  had  been 
put.  They  concluded,  therefore,  that  the  little 
voyager  had  been  sent  adrift  purposely.  It  was  a 
little  girl,  apparently  not  more  than  a  month  or 
two  old,  as  beautiful  as  a  fairy,  with  charms 
enough,  Hake  said,  to  set  up  a  dozen  romancers, 
and  fully  justified  Mrs.  Hake's  assertion  that  she 
was  an  angel  come  from  heaven  by  water. 

There  was  a  large  town  up  the  river,  called  Bon- 
ville  ;  and  the  fisherman  went  there  to  make  all  the 
inquiry  he  could  for  information  that  would  throw 
light  on  the  matter,  but  it  was  with  the  hope  that 
he  should  hear  nothing  about  it  for  fear  he  might 
have  to  give  the  baby  up.  But  though  he  adver- 


1 92  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

tised  in  the  papers,  and  made  many  inquiries,  no 
one  appeared  to  claim  it ;  and  he  went  home 
happy.  Several  offered  to  take  it  off  his  hands, 
but  he  would  not  listen  to  them. 

"I  am  poor,"  he  said,  "but  Heaven  didn't  send 
that  box  down  to  me  in  that  way  without  a  good 
reason ;  and  I'm  going  to  keep  the  baby." 

And  he  did.  He  stuck  to  his  resolution  like  a 
man.  And,  strangely  enough,  his  luck  changed. 
He  found  good  market  for  his  fish,  and  money 
came  in  briskly.  He  couldn't  see  how  it  was  ;  but 
his  wife  knew  that  he  had  given  up  his  drink,  and 
that  was  why  the  dollars  came  in  so,  when  they 
were  so  very  poor  before.  Both  were  very  happy, 
and  all  because  of  that  little  angel  that  came,  as 
Mrs.  Hake  would  have  it,  "from  heaven  in  a 
rough  pine  box." 

They  named  her  May,  because  it  was  May  when 
she  was  found ;  though  the  schoolmaster  of  the 
district  called  her  "Fleur  de  la  Mer,"  a  name 
by  which  she  was  everywhere  known.  She  was 
white  as  a  lily ;  and  the  three  pets  —  the  baby,  the 
cat,  and  the  crow  —  presented  a  strange  contrast, 
the  cat  being  yellow,  and  the  crow  black.  They 
were  all  the  best  friends  in  the  world. 


FLEUR   DE    LA    MER.  193 

But  she  was  not  always  to  remain  a  baby.  She 
grew  to  be  a  sweet  and  pleasant  child,  the  delight 
of  everybody.  She  early  learned  her  own  story 
from  the  old  folks.  Hake  would  take  her  on  his 
knee,  and  tell  her  all  about  it ;  and  thus  she  was 
soon  led  to  regard  the  sea  as  a  sort  of  mother  to 
her.  The  moaning  sound  of  the  waves  was  a 
lullaby ;  and  when  the  storms  raged,  and  the  great 
waves  rolled  in  on  Ragged  Rock  Point,  she  would 
hear  it  with  silent  awe,  deeming  it  a  note  of  anger 
and  reproof.  She  loved  to  sing  of  the  sea,  and 
there  were  many  songs  taught  her  by  the  people 
of  the  place  where  she  lived.  Such  of  them  as 
alluded  to  the  motherly  qualities  of  the  sea  were 
her  greatest  favorites.  Thus  she  would  sing,  — 

"  Come !  says  the  voice  of  the  motherly  sea, 

Give  me  thy  young  heart  glowing  and  warm  : 
Here  in  my  breast  is  a  haven  for  thee, 
Safe  from  contention,  safe  from  life's  storm. 

Dearest  one,  dearest  one, 
Never  a  breath  of  the  storm-king  thou'lt  know 
Safe  in  my  palace,  the  billows  below." 

"Are  there  palaces  beneath  the  sea?"  she 
would  ask  the  old  fisherman,  pausing  in  her  song. 
And  then  he  would  tell  her  stories  of  the  mer- 


194  IKE   PARTINGTON. 

maidens,  and  the  bowers  of  coral  under  the  waves ; 
of  palaces  made  of  gold  and  gems ;  and  of  people 
of  the  sea  luring  those  of  earth  down  to  their 
beautiful  home,  and  all  the  wonderful  lore  of  the 
ocean,  —  to  which  she  would  listen  with  the  most 
earnest  attention.  Then  she  would  break  forth 
again,  — 

"  Let  me  infold  thee  in  loving  embrace, 

Tenderly,  tenderly,  close  in  my  arms : 
Sorrow  shall  ne'er  in  thy  heart  have  a  place, 
Ne'er  shalt  thou  suffer  earth's  cares  and  alarms. 

Dearest  one,  dearest  one, 
Never  thou'lt  sigh  if  thou  comest  to  me, 
And  bide  in  the  love  of  the  motherly  sea." 

The  old  fisherman  would  hug  her  to  his  heart, 
and  then  turn  her  sweet  face  to  the  light,  seeing 
in  her  dreamy  eyes  something  which  he  could  not 
understand,  and  which  she  did  not  understand 
herself.  It  was  only  the  outward  expression  of 
the  longing  which  filled  her,  in  association  with 
the  sea,  to  which  she  was  drawn  by  an  intense 
attraction. 

She  was  at  ten  years  a  lovely  child,  tiny  in 
form,  playing  with  her  companions,  but  oftener 
roaming  along  the  shore  communing  with  the 


BY   THE   SEA-SHORE.  195 

sea.  "Mother,  dear  mother,"  she  would  say, 
"come  to  me,  and  love  me.  I  am  very  sad  be- 
cause you  do  not  come.  I  want  to  go  with  you 
down  in  the  coral  groves,  where  the  mermaids 
sing,  and  the  jewels  are,  that  I  may  reward  those 
who  are  so  good  to  me." 

Then  she  would  listen  for  the  response,  but 
only  heard  the  murmur  of  the  waves. 

One  day,  as  she  thus  roamed  along  the  shore, 
uttering  ,her  usual  invocation,  her  heart  felt  very 
happy.  The  day  was  warm,  bright,  and  beautiful. 
There  was  no  breeze  stirring ;  and  the  waves  came 
to  the  shore  in  gentle  billows,  singing  and  spar- 
kling on  the  sand.  She  had  bidden  the  fisherman 
good-by  as  he  rowed  out  for  his  customary  toil, 
had  exchanged  a  pleasant  word  with  the  fisher- 
man's wife  as  she  stood  upon  the  bank,  and  was 
now  alone.  She  sat  down  on  a  stone  that  over- 
looked the  sea,  which  shimmered  in  the  sun,  and 
rose  and  fell  as  quietly  as  an  infant  breathing  in 
slumber.  Her  full  heart  found  vent  in  song  :  — 

"  Come  from  your  caverns, 
Ye  maids  of  the  sea ; 
Don  your  green  mantles, 
And  hasten  to  me. 


196  IKE   PARTINGTON. 

Here  on  the  silver  sands 

Bright  billows  play: 
We'll  dance  to  their  musical 
Ripple  all  day. 

Come,  oh,  come, 

Sweet  maid  of  the  sea ! 
Here  on  the  shore 
I  am  waiting  for  thee." 

She  paused  a  moment,  as  if  waiting  to  hear  the 
echo  of  her  own  sweet  voice,  when  she  was 
startled  by  a  sound  as  if  from  beneath  the  water, 
which  seemed  to  chime  with  the  murmur  of  the 
waves,  and  harmonized  with  the  strain  of  her  own 
melody :  — 

"  Maid  of  the  golden  hair, 

Child  of  the  main, 
Your  love  we  may  not  share, 

Though  we  are  fain. 
Prisoned  by  spirits  fell, 

Here  we  are  held : 
They  will  but  break  the  spell 
•  By  love  compelled. 

Thrice  turn  with  the  sun, 
Thrice  bow  to  the  sea : 
Thy  desire  is  won  — 
We  are  free !  we  are  free ! " 


THE    CHARM   SUCCEEDS. 


She  listened,  wonder-struck;  and  then,  clapping 
her  hands,  she  cried,  in  a  voice  of  delight,  — 

"  I  will  do  as  the  sea-maidens  say,  and  they  will 
come  and  play  with  me." 

She  accordingly  turned  round  thrice  with  the 
sun,  and  then  bowed  herself  as  many  times  to  the 
sea,  when  there  arose  from  the  water  a  strain  of 
the  sweetest  music.  Colored  fish  were  seen  swim- 
ming to  and  fro,  their  sides  flashing  in  the  sun- 
light. Then  she  heard  a  chorus  of  voices  coming 
nearer,  singing,  — 

"  Free  as  the  air  to  come  and  go, 
Free  as  the  waves  in  ceaseless  flow, 
All  the  liberty  we  share 
Coming  from  her  love  and  care. 
Bring  her  gems  from  coral  caves, 

Bring  her  flowers  and  jewels  bright, 
Tinged  with  hues  of  golden  waves 

Gleaming  in  the  upper  light  ; 
Bless  the  maiden  bright  and  fair, 
"the  sea-maid's  friend,  Fleur  de  la  Mer." 

The  sea  assumed  a  more  beautiful  appearance, 
the  waves  made  sweeter  music  on  the  beach,  and 
the  little  girl  saw  rising  from  the  sea  a  bright 
chariot  of  gold  and  blue,  drawn  by  dolphins,  and 


198  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

in  the  chariot  a  maiden  of  most  lovely  aspect, 
while  around  her  sported  in  the  water  a  number 
of  others  equally  lovely ;  and  all  bore  in  their 
hands  caskets  and  branches  full  of  gems.  They 
came  up  to  the  shore,  and  then,  approaching  the 
little  maiden,  laid  their  treasures  at  her  feet. 
She  looked  at  them  bewildered,  not  knowing  what 
to  say,  nor  which  way  to  turn.  She  had  long 
wished  to  meet  the  people  of  the  sea ;  but,  now 
they  had  come,  she  did  not  know  what  to  do. 
They  were  clothed  in  sea-green  dresses,  with 
ocean  mosses  in  their  hair.  Each  had  a  girdle  of 
diamonds  and  rubies  about  her  waist,  and  in  their 
hair  were  gems  more  costly  than  earth  had  ever 
seen.  Their  feet  were  bare,  and  the  little  girl 
looked  to  see  if  they  were  not  web-footed. 

After  a  moment  or  two,  seeing  her  surprise, 
they  sang,  each  one  having  a  golden  harp  hung 
from  her  shoulder,  with  which  they  accompanied 
their  song,  — 

"  Maid  of  the  sunny  hair, 

Child  of  the  sea, 
We  come  thy  sport  to  share, 
Made  free  by  thee. 


SEA-MAIDENS.  1 99 


Thy  love  removed  the  spell 

Holding  us  bound : 
Thy  praise  our  song  shall  swell, — 

Queen  thou  art  crowned." 

Then  the  leader  came  forward,  and  placed  on 
her  head  a  crown  of  sea-mosses  sprinkled  with 
diamonds  as  large  as  filberts,  and  placed  in  her 
hand  a  sceptre  made  from  the  wood  of  ocean 
forests  and  covered  with  gold,  while  the  rest 
silently  opened  their  caskets  of  brilliants. 

This  was  all  too  formal  for  little  May:  so  much 
dignity  was  oppressive  to  her ;  and  she  took  off 
the  crown,  and  laid  her  sceptre  by,  saying,  — 

"  I  don't  want  to  be  a  queen  :  I  had  rather  run 
on  the  sands,  and  play  with  you,  or  have  you  tell 
me  stories  about  your  home  down  under  the  sea." 

Then  she  asked  their  names,  and  learned  that 
the  one  who  had  crowned  her  was  a  real  princess, 
named  Gulnare  ;  the  rest  were  Ripple  and  Sea- 
fern,  Billow  and  Spraybloom,  Raregem  and  Dults- 
leaf.  They  immediately  became  very  social,  and 
walked  and  ran  along  the  shore,  and  played  with 
May  till  she  was  tired.  Then  they  sat  down  on  the 
green  bank,  and  told  her  wondrous  stories  about 
the  things  under  the  sea,  —  much  more  beautiful, 


2OO  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

they  said,  than  things  on  the  land.  There  were 
palaces  of  gold  and  diamonds,  and  marine  forests, 
and  big  fish  that  they  rode  as  if  they  were  horses, 
some  of  which  were  the  dolphins  attached  to  the 
chariot  before  them.  They  told  her  that  a  de- 
mon had  laid  a  spell  on  them,  so  that  they  might 
not  come  to  earth;  but  they  had  been  attracted 
towards  her  by  her  love  of  the  sea,  and  had  got 
so  near  to  her  that  they  were  able  to  give  her  the 
charm  by  which  the  spell  could  be  broken,  and 
they  were  very  grateful  to  her  for  what  she  had 
done.  The  stories  told  her  so  delighted  her  that 
she  said,  — 

"I  wish  I  could  go  down  in  the  halls  of  the 
sea." 

"  Is  this  your  real  wish  ? "  asked  the  princess. 

"It  is." 

"  Will  you  give'  up  every  thing  here  for  it  ? " 

May  paused  to  think  a  little.  She  would  cause 
pain  to  those  who  had  done  so  much  for  her,  and 
whom  she  loved  so  well,  by  leaving  them :  but 
then,  she  thought,  they  were  very  poor,  and  she 
might  be  able  to  do  them  good,  instead  of  being 
a  burden  to  them,  by  going ;  for  she  would  send 
a  messenger  fish  to  hang  a  whole  basket  full  of 


UNDER   THE    WAVES.  2OI 

diamonds  on  the  fisherman  V  hook,  and  make  him 
rich.  So,  at  this,  she  put  her  hand  in  that  of  the 
princess,  and  said,  — 

"  I  will  give  up  all." 

There  was  a  great  clapping  of  hands  among 
them  when  she  said  this,  for  they  could  not  have 
taken  her  without  her  consent;  and  the  chariot 
with  the  dolphins  drove  up  to  the  shore,  into 
which  stepped  little  May  and  the  princess.  They 
rode  away  out  into  the  sea,  and  passed  under 
where  -the  old  fisherman  sat  watching  his  line, 
little  thinking  that  his  pretty  May  was  leaving 
him.  She  saw  him,  and  begged  the  princess  to 
let  her  speak  to  him  ;  but  this  was  not  permitted, 
because  if  she  did  it  would  make  her  again  a  child 
of  earth,  and  now  she  was  a  daughter  of  the  sea. 
She  mourned  a  little  at  this,  but  soon  the  novelty 
of  her  situation  stilled  her  grief. 

Then  they  sank  down  into  the  ocean  —  down, 
down,  down ;  but  Fleur  de  la  Mer  felt  no  incon- 
venience, because  she  was  a  child  of  the  sea,  like 
the  rest.  As  they  went  down,  big  fishes  came, 
and  put  their  noses  into  the  chariot  to  see  if  they 
were  good  to  eat ;  but  the  princess  rapped  them 
with  her  whip,  and  they  ran  away. 


202  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

At  last  they  reached  a  grand  city,  surrounded 
with  marine  trees  of  rare  beauty.  The  houses 
were  of  white  stone,  that  shone  in  the  light  like 
pearl.  From  the  limbs  of  the  trees  hung  gems  of 
large  size,  which  grew  like  apples.  Sea-men  and 
sea-women  and  sea-children  ran  in  and  out,  or 
rather  swam  in  and  out,  among  the  houses  and 
trees.  There  were  stores  and  banks  in  the  streets, 
kept  by  fish.  The  sharks  were  bankers,  the  pikes 
merchants,  the  swordfish  soldiers,  the  perch  specu- 
lators, the  halibut  landlords,  the  cod  editors,  the 
bluefish  lawyers,  the  monkfish  parsons.  She  had 
no  time  to  note  the  fashions  before  they  arrived  at 
the  palace. 

Here  was  magnificence  such  as  little  May  had 
never  dreamed  of.  A  huge  swordfish,  who  guarded 
the  door,  received  them  very  respectfully  with  a 
military  salute.  They  entered,  and  from  the  door 
to  the  reception  hall  there  was  one  blaze  of  jewels. 
There  was  no  sun,  and  all  the  light  came  from 
immense  diamonds  as  large  as  buckets,  making  it 
like  noonday. 

The  king,  father  of  the  princess,  was  on  his 
throne ;  and  when  little  May  was  presented  to  him, 
he  came  down  and  kissed  her,  and  told  her  he  had 


•  THE    SEA    KINGDOM.  2O3 

heard  about  her  for  a  great  while,  and  was  glad 
she  had  come  down  to  live  with  them.  He  also 
told  her  that  he  had,  for  a  good  while,  given  orders 
to  his  stewards  to  see  that  the  old  fisherman,  her 
father,  should  never  lack  for  fish,  but  always  have 
a  good  fare,  for  her  sake. 

"  Which  was  a  very  fair  thing,  your  Majesty," 
said  the  court  jester,  a  lobster-looking  chap; 
whereat  the  courtiers  all  laughed. 

Little  May  wras  allowed  to  go  everywhere  in  the 
palace,  and  had  great  respect  paid  her  by  every 
one.  The  ladies  of  honor  were  instructed  to  treat 
her  as  well  as  they  did  the  princess,  and  the  two 
continued  excellent  friends.  But  sometimes  she 
fancied  the  court  ladies  were  cold  towards  her ;  and 
then  she  would  think  of  the  dear  old  home  she 
had  left,  and  long  to  go  back  just  for  a  moment  to 
see  how  her  friends  were  situated,  though  there 
could  be  no  doubt  they  were  doing  well,  for  she 
had  sent  them,  several  times,  by  special  messen- 
ger, large  quantities  of  valuable  gems,  to  be  left 
at  their  door.  How  she  wished  she  had  the  privi- 
lege of  a  common  cod,  and  could  have  a  line  from 
her  dear  old  father!  But  there  were  so  many 
things  about  the  court  to  divert  her,  that  she 
would  forget  her  anxiety. 


2O4  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

Thus  things  went  on  for  several  years.  She 
had  become  fully  accustomed  to  ultra  marine 
habits  and  manner  of  living.  She  slept  on  a  bed 
of  algae,  and  delighted  in  deep-water  society,  as 
the  aristocracy  of  the  country  was  called.  One 
day  she  had  fallen  asleep  on  a  bank  of  sea-moss, 
and  was  having  a  troubled  dream  which  mingled 
the  scenes  below  and  above  water  in  a  very  vivid 
manner.  She  heard  familiar  voices  in  the  palace 
and  among  the  trees,  so  she  thought,  which  re- 
proached her  for  her  desertion.  Then  there  came 
a  great  cry,  which  seemed  to  shake  the  palace  to 
its  very  foundation,  so  full  of  bitter  anguish  was 
it,— 

"  May,  May !  my  dear,  darling  little  May ! 
Where  is  my  little  Birdie?" 

It  was  the  voice  of  the  old  fisherman,  and  she 
wondered  how  he  had  come  there.  Could  he  have 
come  down  on  one  of  his  own  cod-lines,  or  by  the 
submarine  telegraph  ?  And,  as  she  queried,  the 
voice  kept  saying,  — 

"May,  May  !     Where  is  my  pretty  little  May  ? " 

The  trees  seemed  to  have  found  tongues,  and 
all  of  them  echoed  the  sound,  "  May,  May  !  "  when 
she  awoke,  and  found  herself  in  the  green  sedge 


ON    SHORE    AGAIN.  205 

that  grew  along  the  shore,  just  where  she  was 
playing  with  the  maidens  of  the  sea  so  long  ago. 
As  she  started  up,  there  were  the  fisherman  and 
his  wife,  and  several  of  the  fisherman's  neighbors, 
old  and  young,  coming  towards  her,  looking  just 
as  they  did  when  she  left,  but  very  anxious ;  and 
when  they  saw  her  they  gave  a  scream  of  delight. 
The  old  fisherman  ran  towards  her,  with  his  arms 
extended ;  and  he  clasped  her  to  his  heart,  and 
kissed  her  over  and  over  again,  showing  her  that 
he  had  forgiven  her  desertion  of  him,  for  which 
she  was  very  glad. 

"The  dear  little  angel!"  said  the  fisherman's 
wife,  taking  her  turn  to  kiss  her :  "  she  came  from 
heaven  by  water,  and  we  thought  she  had  gone 
back  the  same  way." 

"Where  is  Gulnare?"  said  May,  as  soon  as 
she  could  find  breath. 

"  Who  ? "  asked  the  fisherman. 

"  Gulnare,  the  princess,"  she  replied;  "and  did 
you  get  the  treasures  I  sent  you  ?  " 

They  all  looked  astonished,  and  shook  their 
heads  at  each  other. 

"How  did  I  get  here?"  she  continued:  "did 
the  dolphins  bring  me  in  the  king's  chariot  ? " 


206  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

"  No,  darling,"  said  the  old  fisherman :  "  we 
missed  you  when  I  came  home  at  noon  to-day,  and 
thought  you  were  lost ;  and  now  we  find  you  hid 
here  in  the  sedge,  all  safe  and  sound,  thank  the 
Lord ! " 

She  then  told  them  all  the  story  about  the  visit 
of  the  sea-maidens,  and  the  treasure  they  brought, 
and  how  she  went  down  into  the  ocean  with  them, 
and  her  life  there,  and  how  it  had  been  inter- 
rupted by  the  fisherman's  calling  her.  It  was 
hard  to  convince  her  it  was  not  true  ;  but  she  was 
still  only  ten  years  old,  and  could  not  have  lived 
there  long,  so  she  was  brought  to  regard  it  as  a 
dream,  or  a  vision,  in  which  there  might  be  a 
glimpse  of  reality.  How  much  we  can  dream  in 
a  little  while,  if  we  set  about  it ! 

She  lived  to  be  a  comfort  to  the  old  fisherman 
and  his  wife,  who  affirmed,  to  the  day  of  her  death, 
that  she  was  an  angel  from  heaven  who  came  to 
them  by  water. 

The  boys  all  applauded  this  story;  and  Mrs. 
Partington  said  she  sfcould  think  of  it  every  time 
she  had  chowder  for  dinner,  and  fear  that  she  was 
cooking  up  some  princess  that  had  got  abdicated 
from  home. 


CAPTAIN    BOB  S    COMMENTS.  2O/ 

"  Please  tell  us  another,"  said  Ike. 

"Not  to-night,"  she  replied:  "it(is  getting  too 
late ;  and  I  hope  none  of  you  will  try  to  find  that 
country  down  in  the  sea,  unless  you  go  there  in 
dreams,  as  little  May  did." 

They  laughed ;  and  Ike  said  he'd  like  to  go  down 
in  a  diving-bell,  and  get  some  of  the  money  and 
jewels  that  were  there. 

The  next  morning  Ike  went  round,  and  told  the 
story  to  Captain  Bob.  The  captain  heard  it  very 
gravely. 

"  Well,"  said  he,  "  there's  stranger  things  than 
that  which  never  happened." 

"  Do  you  believe  it  ? "  asked  Ike. 

"  Well,  it  mayn't  be  true,  and  then  again  it  may 
be  true.  Didn't  you  never  hear  of  mermaids  ? " 

Ike  said  he  had. 

"  Well,  these  'ere  were  only  mermaids.  What'd 
you  say  to  see  a  dozen  mermaids  in  the  morning, 
with  combs  and  glasses,  a-sitting  on  the  rocks, 
and  doing  up  their  hair? " 

"  I'd  believe  in  'em  then." 

"  It  isn't  wise  nowadays  to  say  you  don't  be- 
lieve any  thing ;  for,  like  as  not,  to-morrer  you'll 
have  to.  At  any  rate,  'tis  best  to  know  something 


208  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

about  a  thing  before  you  make  up  your  mind. 
There's  a  good  many  things  we  never  can  under- 
stand, though  they're  possible.  Fact  is,  nothing's 
impossible  'cept  putting  two  hills  side  by  side 
without  having  a  valley  'twixt  'em,  and  I  ain't 
quite  certain  about  that." 

The  captain  was  melting  some  tar  to  put  on  to 
the  "Lively  Turtle,"  and  Ike  wondered  if  it 
wasn't  impossible  to  make  her  tight  with  tar. 
After  stopping  a  moment  to  select  a  new  shingle 
to  whittle,  he  went  off  like  a  wedding-party. 


SPRING    COMING.  2OQ 


CHAPTER   XVI. 

ICE-NAVIGATION    ON    THE    CREEK. IKE   STRIKES   A 

ROCK. CRIES    FOR    HELP. GRUM    UNDER    A 

NEW  ASPECT. A  DOOR  OF  ESCAPE.  THE  NEW 

PLANET. AN  EXPLODING  STAR. IKE'S  MORAL 

CULTURE.  PERFORMANCE     ON   THE   ORGAN. 

COULDN'T    PLAY    IT    ON    HIM.  —  SLIVERING.  — 
THE  CLOSE. 

AN  itinerant  hand-organ  man  had  dropped  in 
upon  Rivertown,  and  for  a  month  of  the 
coldest  weather  was  tantalizing  the  people  with  the 
tune,  but  not  the  air,  of  "  Spring,  spring,  beautiful 
spring,"  until  they  were  almost  frantic.  But  by 
and  by  the  snow  began  to  melt,  the  buds  to  swell, 
the  winds  to  blow  more  gently,  the  frost  to  leave 
the  ground,  and  the  ice  to  break  up  in  the  creek ; 
and  spring  was  really  present  almost  before  any 
one  knew  it.  The  human  boy  can  accommodate 
himself  to  all  seasons,  but  the  spring  is  more  to 
his  humor.  His  blood  flows  quicker ;  his  step  is 


2IO  IKE   PARTINGTON. 


more  elastic ;  he  thrills  in  every  fibre  with  a  sense 
of  growth.  He  leaps  with  new  freedom,  like  the 
brook  unfettered.  He  takes  to  water  like  the 
young  ducks,  and  delights  to  see  the  bubbling 
crystal  force  its  way  through  the  ice-chinks,  and 
lie  in  pools  on  which  he  can  sail  his  mimic  boats. 

That  shingle  of  Captain  Bob's,  or  another  just 
like  it,  was  soon  seen  with  sails  made  of  shaving, 
sailing  gallantly  before  the  wind,  seeking  ports 
suggested  by  the  last  geography-lesson.  This  is 
grand  fun  for  boys.  But  when  they  break  through 
the  thinning  ice,  they  realize  from  the  cold  that 
winter  hasn't  quite  given  up  yet. 

'Twas  no  uncommon  thing,  on  the  creek,  to  see 
a  fleet  of  at  least  a  dozen  "cakes"  of  ice  on 
which  young  navigators,  with  a  pole  to  push 
with,  were  sailing  to  and  fro,  suffering  hardship 
greater  than  that  of  the  galley-slave,  as  a  matter 
of  labor,  but  glorious,  for  the  fun  of  it,  to  the 
human  boy.  Not  very  deep-water  sailing,  fortu- 
nately ;  for  the  bottom  of  many  of  these  ice  boats 
would  drop  out  at  times,  and  a  cold  bath  was  sure 
to  follow.  Sometimes  they  would  be  blown  away 
from  the  land,  and  then  they  were  in  real  peril, 
for  the  creek  was  wide,  and  the  water  deep ;  but 


AN    ICE-RAFT.  2 1  I 


all  safely  returned  by  walking  round,  and  so  no 
horrid  examples  frightened  away  any  from  daring 
the  same  danger. 

Another  danger  was  from  sunken  rocks,  and 
Ike  was  put  in  a  very  perplexing  predicament 
once  by  getting  on  one  of  these.  He  was  having 
just  about  the  j oiliest  time  possible.  He  had  the 
best  raft  of  ice  there  was  afloat,  —  one,  in  fact,  that 
he  had  cut,  himself,  from  a  large  body  of  ice  that 
rested  on  the  shore,  which  the  rising  tide  had 
floated  off, — and,  securing  one  of  Mrs.  Parting- 
ton's  best  clothes-poles  to  propel  it  with,  he  was 
as  grand  as  the  captain  of  a  ship-of-war.  The 
boys  tried  to  imagine  themselves  in  Venice,  and 
that  they  were  gay  gondoliers  on  the  Adriatic  ;  but 
the  weather,  which  was  .chilly,  rather  marred  the 
fancy,  and  so  they  "made  believe"  they  were 
shipwrecked  whalemen  at  the  North  Pole,  and 
one  declared  that  he  saw  the  North  Pole  sticking 
up  out  of  the  ice  in  the  distance ! 

"Come,"  said  Ike,  " let's  try  a  race." 

"  Agreed,"  was  the  cry. 

"Well,  start!" 

The  other  rafts  all  started,  but  his  stood  still. 
He  strained  and  pushed  and  pried,  but  it  wouldn't 
move  an  inch. 


212  IKE    PARTINGTON. 


"Come  along,"  they  cried;  "why  don't  you 
come?" 

He  was  like  the  soldier  who  caught  the  Tartar. 
"Why  don't  you  come?  "  cried  his  officer.  "I've 
caught  a  Tartar,  sir."  —  "Well,  bring  him  along, 
then."  —  "He  won't  come,  sir."  —  "Well,  come 
yourself."  —  "He  won't  let  me,  sir."  Poor  Ike 
had  caught  the  Tartar;  for  his  craft  had  settled 
gently  on  a  rock,  and  the  tide  was  falling.  In 
vain  he  pushed  till  he  was  red  in  the  face.  He 
jumped  from  side  to  side  to  make  it  slide  off,  but 
it  wouldn't  slide.  The  Tartar  wouldn't  budge  an 
inch.  It  was  the  very  cream  of  tartar  for  ob- 
stinacy. 

"Why  don't  you  come?"  yelled  the  boys,  now 
a  good  distance  away,  who  began  to  push  for  the 
shore. 

The  rock  on  which  Ike's  vessel  had  caught 
was  at  a  considerable  distance  out.  The  sun 
was  going  down,  and  the  temperature  was  three 
months  from  summer.  He  began  to  grow  cold 
and  considerably  scared.  He  made  one  more 
desperate  effort  to  pry  it  off,  and  the  pole  broke 
in  the  middle.  Then  he  cried  out  lustily  for  help  ; 
but  Captain  Bob  was  not  at  home,  his  boats  were 


GRUM   REDEEMING   HIMSELF.  213 

not  launched,  and  there  was  no  one  about  who 
seemed  to  know  what  to  do.  Mrs.  Partington  was 
frantic  as  soon  as  she  heard  of  it. 

Mr.  Grum,  hearing  the  noise,  came  out  of  his 
house,  and  asked  the  cause  of  "the  row"  as  he 
called  it ;  and,  on  being  told  what  the  matter 
was,  he  went  into  the  house  again,  coming  out  a 
moment  afterward  with  a  bow  and  arrow  and  a 
great  coil  of  line. 

"  He's  going  to  shoot  him ! "  said  one  of  the 
boys  in  a  low  tone. 

"Because  of  that  time  on  the  grass,"  said 
another. 

"  It's  mean  as  dirt,"  said  a  third. 

"Just  like  him,"  said  a  fourth. 

Without  saying  a  word,  Mr.  Grum  tied  the  end 
of  a  ball  of  twine  to  the  long  arrow,  and,  fixing 
the  arrow  in  the  bow,  aimed  it  over  the  boy  on 
the  ice,  and  fired.  The  arrow  fell  in  the  water 
beyond. 

"Now,"  he  shouted,  "you  young  rascal,  pull  in 
on  that  twine.  Pull  slow." 

He  had  attached  the  twine  to  the  line,  which 
was  long  enough  to  reach  to  where  the  boy  was 
held  on  the  rock ;  and,  drawing  in  the  twine,  Ike 


214  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

soon  had  the  line  in  his  hands.  Mr.  Grum  then 
went  into  a  shed,  near  his  house,  and,  taking  a 
large  door  from  its  hinges,  threw  it  into  the  water, 
tying  the  line  to  it. 

"  Now  pull  gently,"  he  yelled  to  the  shivering 
boy. 

The  line  tightened,  and  the  boys,  seeing  the 
door  float  away  on  the  water,  shouted,  as  old 
Galileo  did  when  he  discovered  that  the  earth 
revolved  around  the  the  sun,  "  It  moves  ! "  and 
then  they  gave  a  loud  "  Hurrah  for  Grum ! " 
Something  like  a  smile  came  over  the  old  man's 
face  as  he  heard  it.  The  door,  it  was  seen,  had 
reached  its  destination ;  and  now  he  shouted, 
"Jump  on  !  "  Ike  did  so,  and  it  bore  him.  Then 
said  the  old  fellow  to  the  boys,  — 

"Bend  on  here,  and  we'll  soon  have  him  on 
shore." 

They  all  took  hold  with  a  will ;  and  soon  he  was 
with  them,  but  chilled  with  cold. 

"Now,"  said  Grum,  "put  for  home,  and  get 
warm." 

Grum's  stock  rose  one  hundred  per  cent  in  the 
estimation  of  the  boys,  and  they  thought  he  was 
not  so  bad  after  all.  His  grass-plot  was  insured 


GRUM    STOCK   AT    PAR.  215 

forever,  so  far  as  they  were  concerned.  But  really 
a  wonderful  change  seemed  to  have  taken  place  in 
him.  He  allowed  them  to  help  him  secure  his 
lines,  and  let  them  handle  his  bow  and  arrow, 
which  he  told  them  were  given  him,  when  a  boy, 
by  an  old  sailor,  who  got  them  from  Indians  in 
Oregon,  where  they  were  used  for  killing  salmon. 

"  I  never  killed  any  thing  with  'em,"  said  he ; 
"  and  'tis  queer  that  the  first  game  I've  had  from 
'em  should  be  a  boy." 

The  old  man  actually  laughed ;  and  the  boys 
laughed,  and,  as  they  went  away,  they  voted  Grum 
a  first-rate  old  fellow.  They  were  sorry  that  they 
had  disturbed  him  by  turning  summersets  on  his 
grass,  and  wished  they  might  take  them  back ; 
but  concluded  that  couldn't  be  done  unless  they 
went  and  turned  the  summersets  backward,  which 
wouldn't  do,  you  know,  of  course. 

Ike  went  home  to  sage-tea  and  retirement,  with 
a  stone  wall  of  hot  rocks  all  round  him,  in  bed, 
and  a  jug  of  hot  water  at  his  feet. 

"  We  should  feel  very  thankful  that  you  escaped, 
dear,"  said  Mrs.  Partington,  who  had  been  very 
anxious,  as  he  gulped  down  the  last  swallow  of 
bitter  tea,  and  fervently  wished  he  might  have 


2l6  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

escaped  that ;  "thankful  and  glad  that  a  door  was 
opened  to  you,  or  found  for  you,  so  providential 
with  a  string  to  it ;  and  you  must  always  treat 
Mr.  Grum  respectively,  and  let  him  see  that  you 
regard  his  kindness  with  proper  contempt.  I 
shall  knit  him  a  pair  of  yarn  stockings  for  his 
disinteresting  malevolence." 

Ike  said  nothing,  but,  like  the  Irishman's  owl, 
did  a  good  deal  of  thinking,  and  the  next  day 
went  and  thanked  Mr.  Grum,  very  handsomely 
for  a  little  fellow ;  and  Grum  and  the  boys  were 
the  best  of  friends  thereafter.  They  only  needed 
to  understand  each  other;  and  after  a  while  the 
Grums  and  the  Partingtons  often  took  tea 
together. 

Spring  came  on  quickly  and  warmly,  bringing 
the  early  robins  which  sang  in  the  trees,  and  gave 
the  authorities  "notices  of  intention  to  build,"  like 
good  observers  of  a  law  as  old  as  time ;  the  mud 
dried  up,  marbles  and  pitching  cents  gave  place  to 
hoop  and  kite,  the  dandelions  came  out,  spangling 
the  green  grass  with  golden  blossoms,  and  the 
human  boy  was  himself  again.  Such  kites  as 
were  sent  up  in  the  breezy  days  of  the  last  of 
March ! 


A    STRANGE    LUMINARY 


One  dark,  windy  night  there  was  consternation 
in  the  Creek  district,  which  extended  to  River- 
town.  Ike  rushed  in  upon  Mrs.  Partington,  say- 
ing, — 

"  Come  out  here,  do  !  " 

"What's  the  matter?  Is  there  a  fire?"  said 
Mrs.  Partington. 

"  No  :  come  out  here,  and  see  the  new  star." 

She  went  out  ;  and,  looking  up,  there  was  a  large 
red  planet  shining  above  them,  the  only  one  in 
the  sky,  which  gave  but  a  sickly  light,  and  did  not 
seem  to  remain  steadily  in  its  position.  It  went 
from  side  to  side,  now  rising  and  now  falling  ;  and 
well  might  the  people  who  saw  it  be  puzzled  to 
know  what  it  was.  Mr.  Grum  and  Captain  Bob 
were  out  viewing  the  wonderful  object,  with  the 
rest. 

"Do  you  understand  the  explanatory  system, 
Mr.  Grum  ?  "  asked  Mrs.  Partington  of  her  neigh- 
bor. + 

"  No,  not  much.     That  is  curious,  isn't  it  ?  " 

"It  strikes  me,"  said  Captain  Bob,  breaking 
in,  like  a  boy  on  thin  ice,  "  it  is  one  of  the  fixed 
stars  that's  got  unfixed." 

"  How  wonderful  such  things  are  !  "  said  Mrs. 


2l8  IKE    PARTINGTON. 


Partington,  after  a  brief  pause.  "This  reminds 
me  of  the  line,  'The  spacious  furnishment  on 
high/  and  not  upon  the  instalment  plan,  either, 
because  there's  only  one,  which  is  very  singular." 

"  I  don't  know,"  again  remarked  Captain  Bob, 
"that  it  isn't  one  of  the  moons  of  Mars,  about 
which  a  good  deal  has  been  said  lately,  cutting  up 
shines  in  the  dark  here  where  Mars  can't  see  her." 

"  Perhaps  'tis  a  comet,"  said  Mr.  Grum :  "  I 
thought,  just  now,  I  saw  something  like  a  tail." 

"  Good  gracious !  what's  that  ? "  said  Mrs.  Par- 
tington, as  the  star  gave  signs  of  sparks,  like  a 
fuse  of  powder,  and  then  blew  up  with  an  explo- 
sive sound  that  reached  to  where  they  stood. 

"I'm  as  much  in  the  dark  as  you  are,"  replied 
the  captain  as  he  turned  away. 

Mrs.  Partington  and  Mr.  Grum  exchanged 
"  Good-night ; "  and  the  venerable  dame  went  into 
the  house  to  wait  for  the  coming  of  Ike,  who,  she 
hoped,  could  furnish  some  explanation  of  the 
mysterious  phenomenon,  which  she  thought  was 
about  as  wonderful  as  the  "Donation"  comet 
which  appeared  some  years  before.  She  meant 
Donati's  comet,  of  course,  but  she  couldn't  correct 
herself.  He  came  in  shortly  after,  bearing  a  huge 


A    SHOOTING    STAR. 


kite  which  he  stood  up  behind  the  door,  his  face 
shining  with  good-nature.  She  then  guessed  that 
he  was  at  the  bottom  of  the  stellar  mystery  ;  and 
though  disposed  to  be  displeased  at  the  profane 
attempt  to  get  up  a  new  "  consternation,"  which 
seemed  like  flying  in  the  face  of  Providence,  she 
thought  the  fact  showed  a  soaring  genius,  and 
simply  asked  him  where  he  expected  to  go  for 
deceiving  Mr.  Grum  and  Captain  Roberts  as  he 
had.  But  they  both  knew  more  about  it  than  she 
did. 

Ike  and  the  other  fellows  had  worked  for  a 
week  diligently  in  preparing  that  new  star.  The 
kite  was  the  easiest  part  of  it,  and  this  was  soon 
made.  Then  they  formed  a  large  lantern  of  paper, 
and  were  going  to  send  this  up  to  go  quietly  out 
in  darkness  ;  but  Ike  said  No,  they  must  have  it  go 
off  with  a  snap.  And  then  they  put  their  heads 
together  to  produce  something  really  startling; 
and  an  exploding  star,  they  concluded,  would  be 
a  novelty  in  science.  So  they  set  a  small  Christ- 
mas-tree candle  into  an  ounce  or  two  of  powder, 
fastened  it  securely  with  wire,  and  sent  it  up  ;  and 
those  at  the  Corner,  who  were  really  deceived  by 
it,  set  it  down  as  a  forerunner  of  something  that 
was  going  to  happen. 


22O  IKE    PARTINGTON. 

In  all  this  time  nothing  has  been  said  about  the 
moral  influences  brought  to  bear  in  forming  the 
character  of  Ike.  Great  care  was  taken  by  Mrs. 
Partington  that  nothing  should  be  omitted  in  this 
respect.  She  was  liberal  in  her  religious  views ; 
and  therefore,  though  she  would  like  to  have  had 
him  with  her  when  she  went  to  meeting,  she  told 
him  he  might  go  anywhere  where  the  gospel  was 
dispensed  with.  She  was  more  liberal  in  this 
respect  even  than  a  friend  of  hers,  who,  in  a  gush 
of  enthusiastic  regard  for  the  liberal  idea,  said  to 
his  son  who  confessed  to  have  gone  one  Sunday 
to  a  church  of  a  different  denomination  from  his 
own,  "  I  am  glad,  my  son,  to  have  you  go  to 
church,  and  always  go  where  you  please ;  but,  if  I 
ever  hear  of  your  going  there  again,  I'll  take  your 
hide  off ! " 

So  Ike  connected  himself  with  the  church  that 
had  the  funniest  Sunday-school  concerts  and  the 
best  music.  He  was  always  on  hand  for  picnics 
and  sociables,  always  managed  to  get  his  full  share 
of  the  cakes  and  oranges,  and  at  religious  fairs  was 
a  great  patron  of  the  grab-boxes.  He  was  good 
at  a  pinch  in  the  Sunday  school,  as  the  one  sitting 
next  him  could  testify,  and  almost  always  excited 
the  profoundest  interest  of  the  superintendent. 


MUSICAL    EXTRAS.  221 

Talents  of  the  sort  which  he  possessed  could 
not  long  remain  unemployed ;  and,  after  a  while,  he 
was  promoted  to  the  organ-loft,  to  pump  wind  into 
a  consumptive  instrument  whose  life  was  nearly 
played  out.  The  one  who  played  upon  the  organ 
was  a  young  gentleman  who  fancied  that  people 
made  a  great  mistake  in  going  back  very  far  into 
the  past  for  musical  ability,  and  as  for  old  Bach  he 
could  do  better  himself.  As  soon  as  he  found  he 
had  procured  a  lad  to  blow  who  could  do  justice 
to  the  subject,  he  let  himself  out  to  work,  as  he 
called  his  playing. 

There  were  rehearsals  and  extras  and  trials  and 
regular  occasions ;  and,  as  Ike  was  to  receive  but 
fifty  cents  per  week,  hev  thought  it  was  rather 
playing  it  on  him  to  expect  him  to  do  so  much  for 
the  money.  The  extras  were  increasing ;  and  after 
service  each  Sunday  he  was  expected  to  stay  while 
the  choir  "philandered  "  through  some  fancy  pieces 
for  their  own  amusement.  He  bore  this  once  ;  and 
the  next  Sunday,  after  service,  there  was  to  be  a 
grand  trial  of  lungs  and  organ  for  some  occasion 
that  possessed  no  interest  for  Ike,  so  he  candidly 
told  the  organist,  and  asked  an  extra  price  for  the 
extra  work.  This  was  denied  him  ;  but  there  was 


222 


IKE   PARTINGTON. 


no  strike,  and  the  extra  singing  began.  It  went 
on  splendidly,  until  there  was  a  great  struggle  of 
voices,  the  soprano  chasing  the  tenor,  the  tenor 
dodging  round  the  contralto,  and  the  basso  tearing 
the  gamut  to  pieces  in  roaring  for  the  police, 
when  at  the  highest  and  most  exciting  point, — • 


all  the  voices  hanging  in  mid-air,  so  to  speak,  - 
the  organ  stopped.     The  voices,  shocked  by  their 
own  sound,  fell  flat. 

"  Why  don't  you  blow  ?  "  yelled  the  organist. 

"Dear  me,  how  mortifying!"  shrieked  the 
soprano,  whose  voice  had  been  caught  out  of  tune 
by  the  organ's  sudden  stop. 


A    BLOW   AND   A    STRIKE.  223 

"  Did  ever  anybody  see  such  a  stupid  ? "  said 
the  alto. 

"  Ought  to  be  kicked,  that  boy,"  squealed  the 
tenor. 

"  Should  be  sent  down  below  !  "  growled  the 
bass. 

"  Blow  away !  "  cried  the  organist  again  ;  but  no 
sound. 

He  arose  to  go  around  and  immolate  that  boy, 
whom  he  supposed  to  be  waiting  there,  when, 
glancing  out  of  a  front  window  which  opened 
upon  the  street,  he  saw  the  delinquent  blower 
moving  along  as  gradually  as  if  he  were  on  an 
errand,  and  had  been  told  to  make  haste.  When 
at  a  safe  distance  he  turned,  and  saw  the  organist 
beckoning  to  him,  but  he  wouldn't  go  back ;  and 
the  basso  had  to  pump,  and  sing  at  the  same  time 
through  a  little  window  in  front  of  the  organ. 

That  was  Ike's  last  Sunday  as  a  performer  on 
the  organ  ;  and  the  reason  he  gave  for  leaving  was 
that  so  much  blowing  affected  his  lungs.  But  he 
never  neglected  going  to  church  on  Sunday.  So 
much  for  his  morality. 

The  wood-rangers  came  out  again  as  the  spring 
advanced,  and  the  atmosphere  was  soft  and  deli- 


224  IKE   PARTINGTON. 

cious.  The  brooks  full  of  the  melted  snow  from 
the  hills,  the  anemones  peeping  up  among  the 
withered  leaves,  the  tender  buds  bursting  into 
flower,  the  greening  of  the  trees,  the  varied  songs 
of  birds,  and  the  perfume  that  filled  the  air  from 
the  pines,  were  enjoyed  by  the  rangers  with  true 
poetic  feeling.  They  once  more  sought  their  old 
haunts,  and  cut  their  names  again  on  the  beech- 
trees. 

This  was  the  "  sliver  "  season,  when  the  sap  in 
the  pine-trees  was  running  up  from  the  roots,  and 
the  bark  next'  the  wood  was  a  delicious  sweet 
pulp,  which  the  boys  knew  by  instinct  how  to 
extract.  This  was  done  by  cutting  away  an 
oblong  section  of  the  bark,  and,  stripping  it  up, 
the  coveted  delicacy  was  left  exposed  to  the  knife. 
The  edge  of  the  knife,  slipped  up  the  surface  of 
the  wood  without  cutting  it,  released  a  thin  rib- 
bon of  the  tender  prize,  and  it  was  devoured  with 
as  much  gusto  as  if  it  had  been  on  the  bill  of  fare 
at  an  alderman's  feast,  —  perhaps  more. 

Fear  of  being  caught  in  the  act  of  getting  it 
added  piquancy  to  its  relish ;  and  Ike  had  a  realiz- 
ing sense  of  this  once  when  he  was  thus  caught, 
and  went  away  from  the  feast  with  a  back  ruled 


A   GRACEFUL   CLOSE.  22$ 

with  blue  lines  like  a  writing-book.  This,  however, 
though  a  drawback,  he  placed  among  the  chances 
of  war,  and  made  up  for  it  abundantly  afterwards. 

Thus  a  single  year  of  a  boy's  life  rounded  to  its 
close,  with  its  joys,  failures,  accidents,  mischiefs, 
companionships,  and  trials,  —  the  ups  and  downs 
of  the  journey  towards  manhood.  Ike  Partington 
is  a  fair  representative  of  his  entire  class.  His  is 
no  phenomenal  or  exceptional  case ;  and  in  his 
adventures  and  those  of  his  young  friends  are 
found  the  same  characteristics  that  distinguish  the 
human  boy  all  round  the  world  and  will  become 
the  grandest  manhood. 


Electrotyped  and  Printed  by  Rand,  Avery,  &*  Co.,  Boston. 

\ 


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Fighting  the  Battle  ;  or,  Dick  and  Daisy's  City  Life. 
Saved  from  the  Street ;  or,  Dick  and  Daisy's  proteges. 
Grandfather  Milly's  Luck  ;  or,  Dick  and  Daisy's  Reward. 

Dick  Travers  Abroad  Series;    By  Miss  Adelaide  F. 

Samuels.     Four  volumes.     Illustrated.     Per  vol 50 

Little  Cricket ;  or,  Dick  Travers  in  London. 

Palm  Land  ;  or,  Dick  Travers  in  the  Chagos  Islands. 

The  Lost  Tar  ;  or,  Dick  Travers  in  Africa. 

On  the  Wave  ;  or,  Dick  Travers  aboard  the  Happy  Jack. 

The   Turning  of   the  Tide ;    or,  Radcliffe   Rich  and  his 

Patients. 
Winning  his  Spurs  ;  or,  Henry  Morton's  First  Trial. 


Girlhood  Series,  The.     Comprising  six  volumes.  I2mo. 

Illustrated I  50 

An  American  Girl  Abroad.     By  Miss  Adeline  Trafton. 

The  Doctor's  Daughter.     By  Sophie  May. 

Sallie   Williams,   The   Mountain  Girl.      By  Mrs.  E.  D. 

Cheney. 

Only  Girls.     By  Virginia  F.  Townsend. 
Lottie  Eames ;  or,  Do  Your  Best,  and  Leave  the  Rest 
Rhoda  Thornton's  Girlhood.     By  Mrs.  Mary  E.  Pratt. 


LEE  &  SHEPARD'S  JUVENILE  PUBLICATIONS. 

Maidenhood  Series.    i2mo.    Illustrated. 

Seven  Daughters.  By  Miss  A.  M.  Douglas I  50 

Running  to  Waste :  The  Story  of  a  Tomboy.  By  Geo. 

M.  Baker I  50 

Our  Helen.  By  Sophie  May I  75 

That  Queer  Girl.  By  Virginia  F.  Townsend I  50 

The  Asbury  Twins.  By  Sophie  May I  75 

Daisy  Travers  j  or,  The  Girls  of  Hive  Hall.  By  Adelaide 

F.  Samuels I  50 

Amateur  Drama  Series.  By  Geo.  M.  Baker.  6  vol- 
umes. Illustrated.  Per  vol l  50 

Amateur  Dramas.  The  Drawing-Room  Stage, 

The  Mimic  Stage.  The  Exhibition  Drama. 

The  Social  Stage.  Handy  Dramas. 

Eminent  Statesmen.  The  Young  American's  Library 
of  Eminent  Statesmen.  Uniform  with  the  Young 
American's  Library  of  Famous  Generals.  Six  volumes, 
handsomely  illustrated,  in  neat  box.  (New  edition.) 
Per  volume I  25 

Benjamin  Franklin.  William  Penn. 

Daniel  Webster.  Henry  Clay. 

Daring  Deeds.  Noble  Deeds. 


Famous  Generals.  The  Young  American's  Library  of 
Famous  Generals.  A  useful  and  attractive  series  of 
books  for  Boys.  Six  volumes,  handsomely  illustrated, 
in  neat  box.  (New  edition.)  Per  vol i  25 

General  Washington.  General  Lafayette. 

General  Taylor.  General  Marion. 

General  Jackson.  Napoleon  Bonaparte. ' 


Springdale  Stories.     By  Mrs.  S.  B.  C.  Samuels.     Six 

volumes.    Illustrated.     Per  volume 7  j 

Obeying  the  Golden  Rule.  The  Smuggler's  Cave. 

The  Shipwrecked  Girl.  Under  the  Sea. 

Nettie's  Trial.  The  Burning  Prairie. 


LEE  &  SHEPARD'S  JUVENILE  PUBLICATIONS. 

Sunny  bank  Stories.  Twelve  volumes.  Compiled  by 
Rev.  Asa  Bullard,  editor  of  the  "  Weil-Spring."  Pro- 
fusely Illustrated.  321110.  Bound  in  high  colors,  and 
put  in  a  neat  box.  Per  volume 25 

Uncle  Henry's  Stories.  Aunt  Lizzie's  Stories. 

Dog  Stories.  Mother's  Stories. 

Stories  for  Alice.  Grandpa's  Stories. 

My  Teacher's  Gem.  The  Good  Scholar. 

The  Scholar's  Welcome.  The  Lighthouse. 

Going  to  School.  Reward  of  Merit 

Sunny  bank  Stories.  Six  volumes.  Compiled  by  Rev. 
Asa  Bullard.  Profusely  Illustrated.  321110.  Bound  in 
high  colors,  and  put  up  in  a  neat  box.  Per  volume. ...  35 

Uncle  Henry's  Stories.  Aunt  Lizzie's  Stories. 

Dog  Stories.  Mother's  Stories. 

Stories  for  Alice.  Grandpa's  Stories. 

Shady  Dell  Stories.  Six  volumes.  Compiled  by  Rev.  Asa 
Bullard,  editor  of  the  "Weil-Spring."  Profusely  Illus- 
trated. 32mo.  Bound  in  high  colors,  and  put  up  in  a 
neat  box  (to  match  the  Sunnybank  Stories).  Per  volume  25 

My  Teacher's  Gem.  The  Good  Scholar. 

The  Scholar's  Welcome.  The  Lighthouse. 

Going  to  School.  Reward  of  Merit 

Tone  Masters,  The.  A  Musical  Series  for  the  Young. 
By  the  author  of  "The  Soprano,"  &c.  i6mo.  Illus- 
trated. Per  volume I  25 

Mozart  and  Mendelssohn.  Handel  and  Haydn. 

Bach  and  Beethoven. 

Twilight  Stories.    By  Mrs.   Follen.     Twelve  volumes. 

4to.    Illustrated.     Per  volume 50 

Travellers'  Stories.  The  Talkative  Wig. 

True  Stories  about  Dogs.  What  Animals  do  and  say, 

Made-Up  Stories.  Two  Festivals. 

Peddler  of  Dust  Sticks.  Conscience. 

When  I  was  a  Girl.  Piccolissima. 

Who  speaks  Next  ?  Little  Songs. 


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